RAMALLAH, April 5, 2026 (WAFA) – Palestinian detainee institutions said on Sunday that Palestinian children have long been a direct target of Israeli policies of repression and control, rather than being spared from them.
In a report issued on the occasion of Palestinian Children’s Day, the Commission of Detainees’ Affairs, the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society, and Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association stated that the period following the war of genocide has been the harshest for detained children. Around 350 children are currently held in Israeli prisons, in addition to dozens detained from the Gaza Strip under extremely dangerous conditions.
The institutions said that systematic torture has become a central feature of detention practices, including enforced disappearance, denial of family visits, and severing communication, making it difficult to determine the exact number or fate of many detainees.
They stressed that the arrest of children is not an exceptional measure, but a longstanding and systematic policy aimed at subjugating an entire generation through organized repression that has affected tens of thousands of children over the years.
Since the outbreak of the Israeli genocide, Israeli forces have carried out widespread arrest campaigns across the occupied Palestinian territories, detaining more than 1,700 children in the West Bank alone. This figure includes those who were later released as well as those still in custody.
According to the report, detentions often begin with violent nighttime raids, as Israeli forces storm homes without warning, breaking doors and spreading fear and chaos among families. Children are then taken, bound, and transported through multiple checkpoints, where some are subjected to beatings, harsh treatment, and prolonged detention without food or water.
Many are transferred blindfolded, deepening fear and confusion and leaving lasting psychological effects from the earliest moments of detention.
The report described interrogation as one of the most severe stages, conducted in conditions designed to break children’s will and extract confessions. Children are held for long hours without access to lawyers or family members, and testimonies indicate the use of psychological pressure, isolation, and intimidation.
It added that violations have escalated significantly during the ongoing war, with harsher detention conditions, increased sleep deprivation, and intensified physical and psychological abuse.
The institutions warned that what should be a legal process has become a systematic pattern of abuse, leaving deep and lasting impacts on children’s mental health and future.
M.N
