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Israel systematically detaining and torturing Palestinian children in the Gaza, rights group finds

Brothers Abdulmumin, 16, and Ali D. were detained and tortured by Israeli forces in Gaza City in December 2023. [Photo: Courtesy of the family/DCI Palestine]

MEMO | August 22, 2024

Israeli forces are systematically detaining and torturing Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip, including using some as human shields, Defence for Children International – Palestine said in a report released yesterday.

DCIP investigated events during an Israeli military incursion into the Al-Tuffah area of Gaza City on 27 December 2023, when occupation forces detained at least eight Palestinian children and used several as human shields, according to documentation collected by the rights group. Israeli forces detained around 50 Palestinians, including brothers 13-year-old Abdullah H. and 11-year-old Abdulrahman H. as well as 12-year-old Karim S. Israeli soldiers forced them to take off their clothes and bound their hands before forcing them to walk in front of Israeli tanks.

“They insulted us, slapped me on my face, and kicked me in my stomach and waist. I almost died from the beating.”

Karim told DCIP. “Then they made us walk in front of bulldozers and tanks in the streets so that the resistance wouldn’t target them.”

“They released dogs on us to scare me, beat me on the head, and stripped me of my clothes,” Abdulrahman told DCIP. “Anyone who asked for water or needed to use the bathroom was beaten with rifles.”

Since 2000, DCIP has recorded at least 31 cases in which Palestinian children were used by Israeli occupation forces as human shields.

During the same incursion into Al-Tuffah neighbourhood, Israeli forces detained at least five other Palestinian children, according to documentation collected by DCIP.

“They treated us like animals, not humans. When they entered our house, the soldiers were shouting and firing bullets everywhere. They took me from the house and ordered me to undress, then they tied me up and blindfolded me,” 16-year-old Mohammad S. told DCIP.

“I was kicked in the face, and the marks are still visible.”

During the incursion, after Israeli forces bulldozed the door of his home, a small Israeli drone entered Mohammad’s house and began firing live ammunition. Mohammad was detained by Israeli soldiers. His family was ordered to go to southern Gaza via Al-Rashid Street, and lost contact with the child after the forced separation until a neighbour told them that Mohammad was released and displaced at the Cairo School in Gaza City.

In addition to attacking the children, occupation soldiers hit the children’s mothers with rifles in front of them, unleashed dogs to bite detainees, and insulted them with vile words and threatened them with rape. “I heard them tell one of the detainees that they would do things to his wife, mentioning her by name,” 13-year-old Ibrahim S. said.

Israeli forces have detained an unknown number of Palestinians, including children, to Israeli military bases and detention centres in Israel since October 2023. The children’s names, exact locations, whereabouts and conditions are also unknown, indicating these are enforced disappearances, which is a “serious breach of international law”.

DCIP explained that Palestinians being detained are held under Israel’s 2002 Unlawful Combatants Law. “This Israeli civil law permits the state to detain as claimed ‘enemy fighters’ for extended periods of time without following the standard legal procedures, and to hold them without granting them the status of prisoners of war,” it explained.

August 22, 2024 - Posted by aletho | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Subjugation - Torture | Human rights, Israel, Palestine, Zionism