A human rights report has revealed that the Israeli occupation forces have killed 54 Palestinian children since the beginning of 2018.
A report released by Abdullah al-Hurani Center for Studies and Documentation said that 44 children were killed in Gaza border protests and that the Israeli forces are still detaining the bodies of three of them.
The Center affirmed that the children who were killed while taking part in peaceful demonstrations did not pose any threat to the Israeli forces while the latter deliberately targeted them with live fire.
The Israeli forces arrested 900 Palestinian children during the same reported period in the West Bank and Jerusalem about 230 of whom are still held in Israeli lock-ups.
Abdullah al-Hurani Center said that Israel’s systematic violations of the Palestinian children’s rights have no end noting that the latest of which was the high prison sentence imposed on 17-year-old Ayham Sabbah.
Israel’s Ofer military court a few days ago sentenced Sabbah to 35 years in jail and imposed one million NIS fine on him for allegedly carrying out a stabbing attack in 2016.
The Center said that this harsh sentence violates the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention against Torture signed by Israel in 1991.
It added that Israel’s violations of the rights of Palestinian children are not limited to trials in military courts and high prison sentences; they start from the moment of arrest which usually takes place late at night during violent house raids that are accompanied by heavy firing of live ammunition.
The next stage is even worse. Lawyers and family members are not allowed to attend interrogation sessions where children are often handcuffed blindfolded beaten and insulted.
