RAMALLAH, Thursday, February 14, 2019 (WAFA) – Israel detained 509 Palestinians in January from occupied Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza Strip, including 89 children and eight women, according to Palestinian prisoners advocacy groups.

The Palestinian Prisoner Society, the Prisoners Commission and Addameer said in a joint statement that the Israeli authorities detained 102 Palestinians from East Jerusalem, 88 from Ramallah, 80 from Hebron, 55 from Jenin, 62 from Bethlehem, 30 from Nablus, 30 from Tulkarm, 25 from Qalqilya, 8 from  Toubas, 6 from Salfit, 10 from Jericho and 10 from the Gaza Strip.

It said this brings the number of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons to around 5700 by January 31, 2019. They include 48 women and 230 children under 18 years of age.

In addition, 95 Palestinians are held in administrative detention without charge or trial for various periods of time in January, 50 of them were newly detained, to bring the total number of administrative detainees to 500.

The three organizations said Israel is holding 18 journalists, including three women, three held in administrative detention, two serving life sentences and two long prison terms.

In addition, they said, Israel has intensified its collective punishment policy against families of Palestinian alleged to have attacked Israelis, including the detention of several members of the immediate and distant relatives for various periods of time.

M.K.