The lawyer of the Ministry of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs, Hiba Masalha, declared that the number of Palestinian children in Israeli jails has increased to 250. The reason behind this raise is the recent arrest campaign carried out by the Israeli army in the West Bank, under the pretext of searching for the three missing Israeli settlers.
She added that the Israeli Occupation Forces beat the children during the arrests, which is considered a crime under the Convention on the Rights of the Child. They also arrested the children from their homes in the middle of the night, which is considered as kidnapping.
Two of the children gave statements to their lawyers regarding how the Israeli army arrested them. Talal Khalid Safi, 16 years old, who was arrested last month, told his lawyer that the Israeli soldiers hit him in his stomach, in the back and in his face, causing bleeding in his nose and mouth during his detention in the Hawara interrogation center.
Islam Mahmud Hymenia, 17 years old, who was arrested last December, told his lawyer that the Israeli soldiers arrested him from his home and that they beat him violently with their weapons in the military Jeep until he lost consciousness.