Israeli forces detained 690 Palestinian children since October 7, prisoners’ group says
The Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs says Israeli forces have arrested some 690 Palestinian children since October 7.
It said in a statement that Israeli soldiers have been arresting Palestinian children “systematically, as part of a punitive mass arrest campaign”, the Palestinian Wafa news agency reported.
At least 250 of those who have been arrested remain in detention.
EU, France slam Israeli minister for Gaza starvation comment
The EU and France condemned a far-right Israeli minister for suggesting it would be “justified and moral” to starve two million Gazans to free scores of captives held in the besieged enclave.
“No one in the world will allow us to starve two million people, even though it might be justified and moral in order to free the hostages,” Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said at a conference earlier this week.
Smotrich’s remarks sparked outrage in the international community, with the EU saying the deliberate starvation of civilians was a “war crime”.
“It demonstrates, once again, his contempt for international law and for basic principles of humanity,” the EU said in a statement. “We expect the Israeli government to unequivocally distance itself from the words of Minister Smotrich.”
France also criticised Smotrich, expressing its “deep dismay at the scandalous remarks”.
Israeli society sinks into ‘moral abyss’ as lawmakers discuss abuse of Palestinian prisoners
Members of the Knesset have been debating the merits of institutionalising the abuse of detainees held in Israeli prisons and detention facilities.
It comes as Israeli rights group B’Tselem released a report revealing that more than a dozen Israeli prison facilities have been converted into a network of camps “dedicated to the abuse of inmates” since the start of Israel’s assault on Gaza.
B’Tselem spokesperson Sarit Michaeli said that in Israeli society, these kinds of shocking statements would usually come from “the very far … most extremist elements of society”. “The fact that these are coming from very mainstream, central sources – from lawmakers, from journalists that have a lot of reach – is one of the most shocking examples of the moral abyss that … Israeli society has sunk to after October 7,” Michaeli told Al Jazeera.
The Israeli government, she said, has promoted a reality where Palestinians are effectively held in detention “with no rights whatsoever, with no capacity to receive any sort of protection”.
“Some of the actions detailed and some of the violations detailed in our report are not even denied” by members of the Israeli government, Michaeli added. “What has been happening since October 7 is above and beyond anything we’ve experienced in the past.”
