Ramallah, September 26, 2024— Palestinian child prisoners are subjected to severe torture and ill-treatment by Israeli forces. These children endure physical abuse, psychological torture, and bad conditions, highlighting a grave violation of their rights and well-being.
“One soldier hit me with the stock of his rifle on my head until it bled,” 17-year-old Hasan, who is imprisoned at Megiddo prison in northern Israel, told Defense for Children International - Palestine. “Another hit me on my legs, and I still have bruises and marks on my head and legs to this day.”
Megiddo prison is one of several detention prisons located inside Israel where Palestinian children are held. Transferring Palestinian prisoners, whether adults or children, from the Occupied Palestinian Territory into Israel constitutes a war crime according to international law.
Israeli forces detained Hasan after entering and damaging his home in Jenin refugee camp in the northern occupied West Bank, around 5 a.m. on June 6. Israeli forces did not explain to Hasan the reason for his arrest, nor did they have an arrest warrant. They stayed in the house for about an hour and made a huge mess.
“They beat me in front of my mother and two young sisters,” Hasan said. “My mother tried to defend me, but one of the soldiers pushed her forcefully and knocked her down. I was very angry at this behavior, and the scene has not left my mind to this day.”
“The soldier pushed me against a glass table in the middle of the living room, and it shattered,” he continued.
Israeli forces handcuffed and blindfolded Hasan for around one hour and transferred him in a military vehicle to an Israeli military camp near the town of Muqeibla inside Israel, near Al-Jalame crossing, north of Jenin.
“There were soldiers inside the military vehicle on both sides, and they left me lying on the metal floor among them,” Hasan said. “They did not stop assaulting me on the way with slaps and kicks with their military boots.”
Israeli military arrests, which often take place between midnight and 5 a.m., are a primary source of trauma for detained Palestinian children. All child detainees undergo some form of ill-treatment at the hands of Israeli forces within the first 48 hours of their arrest, according to documentation collected by DCIP.
57 percent of Palestinian child detainees are arrested in the middle of the night, according to documentation collected by DCIP. Many human rights groups have highlighted the damaging effects of this practice. Night arrests can break down a child’s expectation of safety while sleeping and can lead to sleep disturbances, among other symptoms.
“They continued insulting me for around one and a half hours. The military vehicle was moving very fast, and when it went over a bump, I would jump into the air and hit the metal floor, which was covered with my blood,” Hasan said.
“I was forced to sit inside the military camp on the ground until 4 a.m. the following day, during which the soldiers treated me badly. I was always surrounded by soldiers who would assault me arbitrarily. I was deprived of food and water and not allowed to use the bathroom,” said Hasan.
Regardless of the reason for detention, detained children are protected by several fundamental guarantees in international human rights and humanitarian law, ensuring their right to life, freedom from arrest, and protection against torture and inhuman or degrading treatment. Israeli forces used blindfolds and hand ties on almost all the children interviewed by DCIP. Children frequently report they signed documents during interrogation drafted in Hebrew, a language they do not understand.
Hasan suffers from cancer and informed the soldiers about his illness, but they continued to beat him, showing no regard for his condition.
“I asked the soldiers to go to a clinic because I was bleeding, but the soldiers waited until the following morning when they put me in a military vehicle and took me to a clinic, where I was given only first aid,” said Hasan. “The soldiers didn’t stop beating me up in the clinic.”
“A military doctor came to me and removed my blindfold but kept my hands tied and asked me general questions about my health and I told him that I had cancer.”
Hasan was transferred to Al-Jalame interrogation and detention center, where a prison guard from the Israel Prison Service took him to a room and forced him to take off all the clothes, which made him feel humiliated. Hasan was placed in Al-Jalame interrogation and detention center for 39 days, 15 of which were in solitary confinement.
“The cell I was held in was small and had no windows. It had a door with a slot through which they would serve me food,” Hasan told DCIP, describing his isolation in solitary confinement. “The toilet was a pit on the floor and had a bad smell. The walls were gray and I could not lean on them because they had a rough texture. The lighting was yellow and always turned on and looking at it was harmful to the eyes.”
“During my time in the cell, I could not tell night from day or what time it was. I slept on a thin, hard mattress on the floor and it felt as if I were sleeping on concrete,” said Hasan. “The blanket was thin, and the air conditioner was always on and controlled by the jailers. There were two openings in the ceiling, one to let air in and one to let it out.”
“On the first day of my detention, a jailer put black glasses on my eyes, held my hand, and led me through a corridor until I reached an interrogation room. The glasses were removed and there was an Israeli intelligence interrogator who spoke Arabic,” Hasan added “He tied my hands and feet to a chair fixed to the floor and sitting on it was very painful. Then he started to interrogate me. He gave me a piece of paper written in Arabic which included my rights as a detainee, but he did not allow me to consult a lawyer before interrogating me.”
In nearly all cases documented by DCIP, Israeli authorities interrogated Palestinian child detainees without the presence of a lawyer or family member, and children were overwhelmingly denied a consultation with a lawyer prior to interrogation.
“I was interrogated six times, two to three hours each time, during which I was tied to the metal chair and insulted, shouted at, and told that I would stay in the detention cells for a very long time if I did not confess. I confessed to everything as a result of pressure and fear,” Hasan continued. “I confessed to throwing stones many times, inciting on Facebook, possessing prohibited materials and guns, aiding a wanted person, providing services to an unlawful organization, and manufacturing weapons.”
Hasan was transferred to Section 3 in Megiddo prison on June 10 after a series of interrogations. He was held in a very good room and was given good food, soda, and cigarettes. Hasan had a visitor from the prison management with a notebook and a pen and started asking him about his charges and insisted on knowing more from the child.
Israeli forces use coercive tactics, including the use of informants and placing the children in comfortable conditions, such as good rooms and food, leading children to unintentionally provide self-incriminating statements or even make false confessions.
Section three is a section for child prisoners, with approximately 130 children, including 17 from the Gaza Strip. The children endure extremely overcrowded living conditions in this section, with 12 to 18 children sharing a single detention cell.
“The food is bad and scarce, and all the boys have lost weight. I haven’t had my hair cut, and neither have the other children,” Hasan said, describing the situation inside Megiddo prison. “We are assaulted whenever they want, and they may do so under the pretext of searching the rooms. We are repeatedly insulted, beaten, and treated in a vengeful manner.”
Around 500 to 700 Palestinian children, some as young as 12, are arrested, detained and prosecuted in the Israeli military detention system each year. The majority of Palestinian child detainees are charged with throwing stones. In addition to physical and psychological abuse during arrest and detention, Palestinian child detainees are overwhelmingly denied bail and routinely held in pretrial custodial detention for up to several months.
“I was shockingly woken up by Israeli soldiers. I opened my eyes and saw a masked soldier standing near my bed while I was still in bed,” 17-year-old Wesam told DCIP. “He was with two other masked soldiers, and they were all yelling at me. A soldier pulled me by my legs and threw me to the floor.”
Another Palestinian child prisoner interviewed by DCIP, 17-year-old Wesam, was arrested by Israeli forces during his high school final exams.
Israeli forces detained Wesam from his grandparents’ house after entering and storming his parent’s house, searching for him, in the Palestinian town of Allar, north of Tulkarem in the northern occupied West Bank, around 8 a.m. on June 21. Wesam stayed overnight at his grandparents' house after spending the evening studying for his Tawjihi exams, which are required to graduate high school.
“My grandparents were crying in the living room because I was beaten up,” said Wesam. “A soldier told me to lie down on my stomach with my face on the bed, and then he slapped me several times on the neck, while the other two soldiers kicked me with their military boots. My arms and legs are still hurting because of the severe beating I endured.”
“The soldiers put a large piece of cloth over my eyes, covering my entire face and I felt choking because of it,” said Wesam. “They also tied my hands behind my back with a single plastic tie, which was very tight and caused my hands to swell. When I asked them to loosen it, they beat me and left it tight.”
Israeli forces subjected Wesam to severe torture inside a military vehicle while he was seated on the metal floor. He was then taken to another house in the town, where an Israeli intelligence officer was present. The officer, along with two soldiers, brought Wesam into a room and removed his blindfold. The officer greeted him by saying, "Welcome, terrorist," and informed him that he was under arrest and would be interrogated by the intelligence service. The officer warned Wesam that he must reveal everything, or he would face an extended interrogation.
“He was speaking Arabic in a threatening tone. I begged him to postpone my arrest until I finished my school exams and that I would turn myself in afterward, but he refused.” said Wesam.
Ill treatment and torture of Palestinian children remains widespread and systematic in the Israeli military detention system as children arrested by Israeli forces arrive at Israeli interrogation centers blindfolded, bound and sleep deprived, according to documentation collected by DCIP.
Wesam was taken to an Israeli military camp, where he was forced to sit on the ground for several hours, lasting until late at night. A military doctor approached him and asked general questions about his health, but no physical examination was conducted, despite the severe torture Wesam had endured.
“Nachshon unit members placed me inside a closed box with no windows and no communication, but there was a small opening for surveillance,” said Wesam. “They were armed, and they did not tell me where they would take me.”
Two members of the Israel Prison Service Special Operations Unit, known as Nachshon, took Wesam from the military camp to Al-Jalame interrogation and detention center.
A guard from Al-Jalame interrogation and detention center insulted Wesam and made him take off his clothes for searching and he was taken to the interrogation room. “While I was naked, he ordered me to turn around, squat, and then stand up. He did that a few times to humiliate me. Whenever he made me stand up and sit down, he would laugh out loud.” Wesam continued.
Wesam was held in solitary confinement for 22 days after the first interrogation session in Al-Jalame interrogation and detention center. An Israeli interrogator, who spoke Arabic, interrogated Wesam four times, three to four hours each time.
The interrogator tied Wesam’s hands and feet to a metal chair and was shouting at him, insulting him, and threatening prolonged solitary confinement if he did not confess. He repeatedly called Wesam "worthless, despicable, and a terrorist."
After enduring such ill-treatment, Wesam was forced to confess to possession of a gun and prohibited materials, providing services to an unlawful organization, and carrying out military activities.
“The mattress was dirty, thin, hard like concrete, and had a bad smell. There was a pit toilet which had a disgusting smell. There were no windows in the cell, but there were ventilation gaps, the source of which was an air conditioner, which the guards controlled,” Wesam said, describing the situation inside the cell during his solitary confinement.
“The walls were gray and had a rough texture, making it painful to lean on,” he continued. “The gray color was harmful to the eyes when looking at it. The food that was given to me was insufficient, bad, and unfit for human consumption, but I had to eat it because I was hungry. I also did not see anyone but the guard and the interrogator.”
Wesam was transferred to Megiddo Prison, where he was held in solitary confinement for two hours. After which he was placed in a room with very good conditions for one day.
An informant posing as a fellow prisoner approached Wesam, offering good food, including chicken, fruits, vegetables, coffee, and cigarettes.
“The informant wanted me to give him names and details. I told him that I had already confessed everything to the interrogator,” Wesam said. “He got very angry with me and started yelling and saying that I had to tell him everything so that he would tell others outside to avoid getting arrested.”
Wesam was transferred to Al-Jalame interrogation and detention center for interrogation for 26 days and then transferred to Megiddo Prison, where he was tortured and placed in the juvenile section.
“The treatment in Megiddo Prison is very bad. The prison guards treat us like animals in cages, provide us with insufficient food of poor quality and insult us,” said Wesam.
“In my section and throughout other sections, many diseases have spread, mostly scabies; a skin disease that causes intense itching. Because of this disease, all those infected were placed in one room and given ointment in small amounts that were not enough. When we asked for more ointment, they would beat and insult us,” he added.
The Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs reported that Palestinian children in this section are suffering from a widespread outbreak of scabies, primarily caused by a lack of access to sanitation and clean clothing. As a result, infections are worsening daily, and the children are being deprived of necessary medications and treatment.
Israel’s frequent and systematic practice of child detention violates its international law obligations to arrest and detain children only as a last resort. Article 37 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child additionally provides that children deprived of their liberty “No child shall be subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”
*Hasan and Wesam are pseudonyms to protect the children's privacy and safety.
