Hidden Horrors: Alarming Figures On Palestinian Children’s Mistreatment Behind Bars
With the 4-day truce taking place, Palestinians and Israeli hostages have been getting released, with the majority being women and children. This has led to a major spotlight getting placed on where these hostages where before their release. A lot of the imprisoned Palestinian children were detained in Israeli prisons facing horrible conditions. Just by taking a look at the numbers gathered by Save The Children, you’ll get a better picture of how bad the conditions are.
Daily Physical Abuse
One of the worst conditions faced by the imprisoned children is how many get beaten and harmed. At the point of arrest many children end up getting injured with the average being 42%. When diving deeper into the numbers, 86% get beaten, 70% end up getting threatened with harm while 60% are hit with sticks or guns. It is unfortunate how along with that, these children also face violence of a sexual nature.
Forced Confinement
Along with the physical abuse faced by the children, many also faced other severe prison conditions wherein 60% have experienced solitary confinement from one day to as long as 48 days. Even when they are transferred to court or between detention centers, they would get moved in small cages.
A Denial Of Basic Rights
The horrific nature of the conditions include children’s denial to basic services as not only did 70% of the kids complain from hunger but along with that, 68% said they didn’t receive any healthcare. Another basic right is for the children to be able to see their families yet 58% of them were denied visits or communication with loved ones while they were detained.
A Wash of Mental Suffering
Experiencing the prison environment for the children meant that they will not only face physical abuse but also mental abuse. Frequent nightmares are very common among the imprisoned Palestinian children and they even increased in percentage from 39% to 53% while the percentage of kids suffering from insomnia or difficulty sleeping jumped from 47% to 73%.
Knowing all these shocking numbers, the only silver lining is the fact that some of these children are getting to escape these conditions through the 4-day truce.
