Israel has released at least 23 Palestinian children as part of a ceasefire agreement, which is being prosecuted by Israel in military courts against Palestinian children.
At least 290 Palestinian prisoners have been released in two batch since the ceasefire between Hamas and Israel on January 19, after the 15 -month Israeli bombing on Gaza.
According to the Human Rights Organization of the Occupied West Bank, 320 children were imprisoned in Israeli prisons before the latest prisoners exchanged the latest prisoners.
So, what do we know about Palestinian children’s prisoners and why are they tried in military courts?
What do we know about Palestinian children imprisoned in Israel?
In 2016, Israel introduced a new law under which children aged 12 to 14 could be criminalized, meaning they could be tried in court for being an adult and jailed. Can be punished. Earlier, only 14 years or older people could be sentenced to prison. However, the imprisonment cannot begin until the child reaches the age of 14. [PDF].
The new law, which was passed by the Israeli Kest, on August 2, 2016, enables Israeli authorities to imprison a criminal of serious crimes such as “murder, attempted murder or massacre, even if he is 14 years old. Be less “, the law was introduced at that time according to a statementet statement.
The change was made after Ahmed Mansara was arrested in 2015 after being arrested in the occupied East Jerusalem at the age of 13. He was accused of trying to murder and was sentenced to 12 years in prison after the new law was enforced, and importantly, after his 14th birthday. . Later, his sentence on appeal was changed in nine years.
According to a non -governmental organization called Save the Children, about 10,000 Palestinian children have been detained by the Israeli army in the last 20 years.
The reasons for the arrest of the children are from throwing stones to the gathering of only 10 people without a permit, on any matter “which can be considered political”.
Under what law is Israel detaining children?
Controversial, Palestinian prisoners are tried and sentenced in military courts instead of civil courts.
International law allows Israel to use military courts in the area that is occupied.
There is a double legal system in Palestine, under which Israeli settlers living in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem are subject to Israeli civil law, while Palestinian Israeli soldiers and officers are subject to Israeli military law.
This means that a large number of Palestinians are imprisoned without basic legal action.
“However, Israeli authorities regularly arrest Palestinian children during the night raids, without questioning them without a guardian, stopping them long before presenting them to the judge, and children under the age of 12 We detain for a long time before the trial, “Omar Shakir, Israel. And the Palestinian director of Human Rights Watch wrote in November 2023.
According to the Association for Civil Rights in Israel’s 2017 report, about three -quarters of Palestinian children were detained in the occupied West Bank until the end of the operation, while the number was less than 20 % for Israeli children.
Hamukid, an NGO of Human Rights, who helped Palestinians under Israeli occupation, said children imprisoned in prisons were 10 minutes every two weeks from their families every two weeks in 2020. The phone call was allowed.
How many of the Palestinian prisoners released so far under the Israeli and Hamas agreement are there?
Israel released 200 Palestinian prisoners on Saturday under a ceasefire agreement, 120 of whom are serving life imprisonment.
Two of them were children, both were 15 years old. The most rich prisoner, Mohammad Altos, was 69 years old. He spent 39 years in prison, first arrested in 1985 fighting Israeli forces.
The second exchange of Saturday was the second exchange after the implementation of the ceasefire on January 19. In the first exchange, three Israeli detainees and 90 Palestinian prisoners (69 women and 21 children) were released.
Only 8 of the 90 prisoners were arrested before October 7, 2023, when Hamas -led Palestinian groups attacked southern Israel. More than 1,100 people were killed in the attacks, about 250 were taken hostage and Israel’s devastating war on Gaza began.
Some Palestinian prisoners have been imprisoned in Israeli prisons for more than three decades.
Prominent Palestinian leader Marwan Berghoti – who was the co -founder of the Palestinian national independence movement, also known as al -Fatah, has been in prison for 22 years.
Timer Qarmut, an associate professor at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, told Al Jazeera that the release of Palestinian prisoners is a “great relief” for the family, though it is under “terrible facts”. [the Israeli] The profession ”
“These prisoners should have been released through a major agreement that ends the conflict, which brings peace through negotiations, ending occupation, but the bitter fact in Palestine is when we talk,” Qarmut told Al Jazeera. Do, the occupation continues. “
How many Palestinians are there in Israeli prisons? Do they have suffered a custody abuse during?
According to Adamir’s estimates, about 10,400 Palestinians from Gaza and the West Bank were in Israeli imprisonment by Sunday.
One out of every five Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territory have been arrested and charged at some point. This rate is doubled for Palestinian men than women – two out of every five men have been arrested and charged.
There are 19 prisons in Israel and an occupied West Bank where there are Palestinian prisoners. Israel stopped allowing free human organizations to visit Israeli prisons in October, so it is difficult to know the number and conditions of prisoners there.
Palestinian prisoners released have reported beating, torture and humiliation before and after the war on Gaza on October 7.
How many Palestinian prisoners are imprisoned without any charge?
According to Adamir, about 3,376 Palestinians are in administrative custody in Israel. Administrative detention is the person who is jailed without any charges or trial.
Neither administrative detainees, including women and children, nor their lawyers are allowed to see “secret evidence” that Israeli forces say are the basis of their arrests. This process has continued against Palestinian detainees since the establishment of Israel in 1948.
These people have been arrested by the army for a renewable period, which means that the arrest period is indefinitely and it can continue for many years.
According to Admir, the administrative custody included 41 children and 12 women.
What’s ahead?
Twenty -six more detainees should be released in the first phase of the ceasefire, along with hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. The next exchange is next week.
Many people hope the next phase will end the war, which has displaced the majority of Gaza’s 2.3 million people and put millions at risk of famine. Negotiations will begin on February 3.
