Today, November 20th, marks World Children's Day, an annual occasion to emphasize the rights of children worldwide. This day comes at a time when Palestinian childhood is living through tragic circumstances, with the ongoing Israeli occupation systematically destroying childhood in the occupied Palestinian territories. Palestinian children suffer from continuous crimes committed by the occupation, facing killing, arrest, and abuse, under a repressive policy that targets Palestinians in various locations and across different groups, especially children.

Since the beginning of the ongoing genocide, the occupation has killed tens of thousands of children in Gaza, the West Bank, and occupied Jerusalem. Furthermore, hundreds of Palestinian children have been arrested in widespread raids and detentions that have affected various Palestinian areas. Since the beginning of the aggression, Israeli authorities have arrested more than 770 children, subjecting them and their families to severe abuse.

Today, more than 270 Palestinian children are held in Israeli prisons, enduring extremely harsh conditions. These children, like other sectors of the Palestinian population, are subjected to the crime of arbitrary administrative detention. Currently, about 100 children are in administrative detention, without charges or fair trials, based on secret files that neither the detainees nor their lawyers are allowed to access. This figure is the highest in decades, reflecting the systematic policy of the occupation targeting childhood, in violation of all conventions, treaties, and agreements that guarantee children's rights.

From the moment of their arrest, Palestinian children are subjected to arbitrary policies and relentless abuse, enduring harsh conditions and mistreatment that worsen with each passing day since the beginning of the genocidal war. The violations range from starvation and isolation to medical neglect, psychological torture, and physical abuse, intensifying their suffering and threatening their mental and physical health—all of which violate their rights under the UN CRC, including the rights to survival, development, and protection.

An unprecedented rise in the number of children in arbitrary administrative detention:

Children, like other segments of the Palestinian population, are subjected to the crime of arbitrary administrative detention. Around 100 children are currently held in administrative detention without charges or fair trials, based on a secret file that neither the detainee nor their lawyer can access. This number is the highest in decades, marking an unprecedented increase that points to the worsening frequency of random arrests targeting children without presenting charges or conducting legal trials, under administrative orders that can be renewed for indefinite periods.

These policies continue to violate international laws and agreements that ensure the protection 

of children's rights. They call for the actual implementation of the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which focuses on providing special protection for children in occupied territories and ensuring their basic rights in the harsh conditions they endure.

Abuse of Children During Arrest Operations:

For decades, the occupation has been raiding Palestinian villages, towns, and refugee camps in the late hours of the night, conducting violent and terrifying home invasions. These operations are carried out suddenly and terrifyingly, exposing children to a harsh and frightening experience.

Often, intimidation and abuse are used against the children during these arrests, where they are dragged from their beds at gunpoint and subjected to extreme cruelty. These arrests leave a deep psychological impact on both the children and their families, contributing to a pervasive atmosphere of fear and anxiety that persists even after their release from Israeli prisons and detention centers.

The child (A. S.), the youngest of the administrative detainees, was arrested from his home on August 21, 2024, after Israeli occupation forces raided the house at dawn and blew open the doors. He was then taken to a room alone, where he was subjected to beating and tightly restrained with plastic cuffs. Following this, he underwent field interrogation that lasted about half an hour, during which he was beaten by three soldiers. Afterwards, his eyes were blindfolded, and he was transferred to a military vehicle, thrown to the ground, and beaten again. He was then taken to a remote mountainous area, where the beating continued for another half hour.

Later, he was transferred to the Ofer military camp, where he remained in the vehicle for hours before being taken to Ofer prison. There, he underwent a thorough search and was moved to the juvenile section. Afterward, he injured his finger when the bathroom door was closed on him. Despite the severe pain, he only received minimal treatment at the Ramla clinic after days of repeated requests.

Later, an arbitrary administrative detention order was issued against (A. S.) for a period of 4 months, making him the youngest administrative detainee.

Difficult and harsh conditions are endured by child prisoners inside the occupation’s prisons:

The conditions of child prisoners in the occupation’s prisons are among the most difficult humanitarian issues, especially following October 7th. These prisoners, particularly children, endure harsh detention conditions and practices that violate their human dignity amid the ongoing brutal campaign by the occupation authorities against detainees in its prisons. Notably, the occupying forces detain child prisoners in Ofer and Megiddo prisons, thereby violating the 1949 Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols. These international laws provide special protections for children in armed conflicts, including prohibitions against their recruitment as soldiers, protections as civilians, and an emphasis on humanitarian care for children separated from their families during conflicts.

During interrogation, detained children are subjected to intense psychological and physical pressure tactics aimed at extracting confessions without the presence of a lawyer or parent, in violation of both Article 37 (Detention and Fair Treatment) and Article 40 (Juvenile Justice) of the CRC. They are often isolated from the outside world and other prisoners for extended, sometimes prolonged, periods, exacerbating their suffering and undermining their rights.

Regarding the prison conditions in which children live, especially during the ongoing aggression and the wide-scale arrest campaigns carried out by the Israeli military in the occupied Palestinian territories, detainees, particularly children, are held under harsh conditions considered to be the worst in years. Children are deprived of visits and communication with the outside world, and they are not allowed to prepare their own food. The prison administration provides only two low-quality and insufficient meals per day, a policy aimed at starving and weakening them.

Additionally, they face physical abuse and mistreatment, which increases their suffering and makes their conditions even more severe.

The conditions for child prisoners worsen with the arrival of winter, as the prison administration deliberately withholds winter clothing and heavy blankets from them, leaving children to face the harsh cold in cells that are not equipped for heating. This exacerbates their suffering and exposes them to illnesses. The prison administration also tightens its control over them through various methods, including reducing the daily recreational time "fora" to only one hour a day, which is the period during which children are allowed to go out into the prison yard for fresh air and sunlight. Furthermore, the administration reduces the amount of water allocated for their showers, making it difficult for them to maintain personal hygiene, especially in overcrowded conditions with limited hygiene supplies. These policies, which go beyond the bounds of humane treatment, aim to harm the children's health and weaken them physically and mentally as part of a systematic strategy of oppression and mistreatment against child prisoners, in flagrant violation of all international conventions related to children's rights.

House arrest for children... another policy in the systematic destruction of childhood:

House arrest for children in occupied Jerusalem represents a systematic tool of oppression used by the occupation for decades to tighten its grip on Palestinian children and their families. Jerusalemite children are forced to remain inside their homes for long periods, sometimes extending to months, and are deprived of attending school or interacting with their external environment. This disrupts their normal lives, as the family is burdened with the constant surveillance of the child, which increases the psychological and social pressures on the entire family.

Rearrests of Freed Palestinian Detainees after the November 2023 Exchange Deal:

In November 2023, 240 prisoners, including 71 female prisoners and 169 children, were released as part of the exchange deal.

After their release, 27 prisoners, including women, were re-arrested, with 19 of them still currently in detention. It is important to highlight that the majority of those who were rearrested were either children or individuals who had recently reached the age of adulthood. Furthermore, it is a tragic and devastating fact that three of the freed prisoners—each of whom was a child—were targeted by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) and brutally murdered shortly after their release. This ongoing cycle of arrest, detention, and violence against children underscores the severe impact of the occupation on Palestinian youth and their families.

The occupation approves a law allowing the arrest and trial of children under the age of 14:

As part of the repressive measures taken by the Israeli occupation authorities against Palestinian children, the Knesset's General Assembly approved, on November 7, 2024, a law as part of a temporary emergency law for five years. This law allows Israeli courts to impose prison sentences on children under the age of 14 if the offense is described as an "act of terrorism" or an act motivated by nationalism, rather than just being convicted of a killing, as is the case with the current law.

Broad definitions such as "acts of terrorism" or nationalist motivations, particularly in conflict settings, disproportionately target Palestinian children, violating non-discrimination principles under the CRC (Article 2).

The law stipulates that the court may impose long-term prison sentences on a child who has not yet reached the age of 14. However, the child will be placed in a special detention center until they turn 14, at which point they will be transferred to prison to serve the remainder of their sentence.

While the world celebrates the achievements of children in various fields of life, and their natural growth and development, Palestinian children find themselves facing a repressive machine that targets them and violates their rights and human dignity. They are arrested at a very young age, tried in military courts that violate the most basic guarantees of a fair trial, and subjected to harsh punishments.

With the ongoing genocidal war against the Palestinian people and the continuous violations by the occupying state of Palestinian children's rights, as well as its perpetration of war crimes and crimes against humanity against them, Addameer calls on Third States to compel the occupying state to immediately halt all its crimes against children, to respect and implement the advisory opinion issued by the International Court of Justice deeming the Israeli occupation illegal, and to fully boycott this occupation, impose sanctions on it, and hold it accountable for all its crimes.