Catastrophic Reality: 350 Palestinian Children and 86 Women Face Harsh Conditions in Occupation Prisons

Palestinian childhood faces a tragic reality inside the occupation's detention centers, where documented figures indicate the detention of approximately 350 children distributed among 'Ofer,' 'Megiddo,' and 'Damon' prisons. The major shock lies in the fact that 180 of these children are held under 'administrative detention,' which means they are deprived of their basic rights and their school seats without formal charges or fair trials, in a blatant violation of international conventions.

In a related context, the situation of Palestinian female prisoners is no less tragic, as 86 women are held in detention conditions that lack the most basic human and health necessities. Reports confirm that among these female prisoners, 25 are administratively detained, indicating the use of this type of detention as a punitive and retaliatory tool aimed at breaking the will of Palestinian women, who represent the cornerstone of family and societal resilience.

Testimonies leaked from inside the prisons indicate that female detainees are subjected to systematic abuse, physical and psychological assaults aimed at undermining their dignity. These practices are part of a broader psychological war waged by the occupation against male and female prisoners, where they are isolated from the outside world and deprived of communication with their families, amid a complete absence of legal or international human rights oversight over these violations.

Regarding the targeting of younger generations, human rights sources have identified three main paths for the occupation's policy, most notably 'forced ignorance' through keeping children out of school for many years. This path aims to create a generation burdened by the effects of imprisonment and psychological trauma, which hinders their ability to integrate into society in the future, and turns their childhood years into a series of suffering inside dark cells.

Administrative detention of minors also stands out as one of the most dangerous tools through which the occupation transforms children into a 'supposed security threat' to justify their arbitrary detention. This policy continues amidst international silence, despite humanitarian laws explicitly prohibiting the deprivation of children's liberty except as a last resort and for the shortest possible period, which completely contradicts the practices of the prison service that extends their detention for months and years.

The occupation deprives 180 children of their childhood and school seats through administrative detention without charge or trial.