Israeli occupation forces escalated during the current year the policy of arrests carried out against Palestinian people, which has become a daily crime against Palestinians, the Palestine Center for Prisoner Studies said.

The Center monitored that IOF arrested 1460 Palestinians during the first quarter of the year.

The Centre’s report stated that, since the beginning of this year, the IOF continued to target all sectors and categories of the Palestinian people with arrests and summonses.

IOF clearly escalated arrests on the city of Jerusalem, of which the number of detained Palestinians reached 560 cases, which constitutes 38% of the total arrests in the Palestinian occupied lands.

Arresting children

The targeting of children through arrest, domestic confinement and the imposition of financial fines had continued during the past three months, with 182 arrests among children, the majority of whom were from the occupied Jerusalem, and some of whom were sick and required constant medical care that endangered their lives.

The youngest detainees are Muhammad Sinokrot, 9, Daoud Hijazi, 11, from Al-Isawiya village, northeast of occupied Jerusalem, and the child Qusai Wael Jado, 11, from Aida refugee camp, north of Bethlehem.

The policy of house confinement and deportation from the Holy City constituted a dangerous alternative punishment that left clear effects on children and their families, and turned the family home into a prison, in addition to imposing exorbitant fines on children’s families. The classification operations amounted to detaining Jerusalemite children in special prisons and sections, away from children detained from other governorates and regions.

The Palestinian Prisoners Society touched on the issue of the prisoner Ahmed Manasra, who was arrested as a child, indicating that it is a clear case of the violations, abuse and torture, that resulted in catastrophic effects on his physical and psychological health, despite that, the occupation authorities continue to arrest and isolate him under difficult circumstances.

The Palestinian Prisoners Society affirmed that despite the efforts that Palestinian institutions continue to make in following up the issue of child prisoners, the international human rights system is not working seriously to stop these arrests or reduce the violations against the Palestinian child.

Arresting women

The Israeli occupation also arrested 29 women, including two freed prisoners: the journalist Bushra Al-Taweel from Al-Bireh, who was subjected to an administrative detention order for 3 months, and Yasmine Shaaban from Jenin, who was released two years ago after five years of detention.

The occupation forces also arrested two students at An-Najah University, who are Aida Al-Masry and Amna Bilal Shtayyeh, after raiding their house in the city of Nablus. In addition, the occupation forces arrested Wejdan Bishara Halaseh, from Jabal Al-Mukabber neighborhood in Jerusalem, for her demand to hand over her son Islam, and Najwa Adnan, from Nablus, while she was in the Al-Aqsa Mosque, before releasing her in the next day.

Arrests in Gaza

In the Gaza Strip, the occupation forces arrested (20) citizens, including Wael Matar from the northern Gaza Strip, and Ibrahim Abu Hasira from Gaza City, who were arrested when they passed through the Beit Hanoun-Erez checkpoint.

The Israeli occupation also arrested 11 young men who approached the eastern border and released most of them after interrogating them, in addition to the arrest of seven fishermen and the seizure of their boat.

Arrests in the occupied Palestinian territories in 1948

The occupation forces carried out a wide campaign of arrests among the Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territories in 1948, these arrests affected more than 230 citizens, 170 of them were arrested from the village of al-Atrash in the occupied Negev, including 40 minors and a number of girls. The arrests also focused on the villages of Al-Zarnouk, Tal Al-Sabaa, Abu Tulul, Khashm Zna, and Shaqib Al-Salam.

The occupation forces practiced abuse and torture against the majority of detainees, who were charged with incitement, assaulting police officers and burning tires. 150 of the detainees were brought before the courts, most of them were released, while 35 of them were indicted.

The occupation forces also arrested approximately 50 citizens from the areas of Wadi Ara, Sakhnin, Taybeh, the Negev and Nazareth, following the Hadera and Beersheba operations.