770 Children Arrested by Zionist Forces in West Bank Since October 2023
Since the beginning of the genocidal war in Gaza in October 2023, more than 770 Palestinian children have been arrested by Zionist forces in the occupied West Bank, according to various reports.
On Universal Children’s Day, observed on November 20, the Ministry of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoners Society stated on Thursday that “precise figures regarding the number of children arrested in Gaza are difficult to ascertain due to the ongoing crime of enforced disappearance affecting the population.”
Non-governmental organizations have reported that among the approximately 770 Palestinian children arrested, at least 270 currently remain in detention within Zionist prisons.
In their accounts, human rights organizations indicated that “the arrested children have endured various forms of physical and psychological torture through a range of systematic tools and methods that contravene human rights laws, international conventions, and children’s rights.”
Palestinian statistical data have also documented instances of children being used as hostages by occupying forces to apply pressure on their families. A particularly notable case involved “a three-year-old child from Beit Leqia in Ramallah, who was detained for an hour and a half before being released when his father felt compelled to surrender.”
