Israel incarcerated 562 Palestinian minors since U.S. President Donald Trump announced his decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital last December, according to a new report.
"The Israeli authorities have stepped up their arbitrary measures against child detainees since December, 2017,” the PLO Committee on Detainees said in a report released, Thursday.
“During this period, 562 Palestinian children and minors were arrested from all over the West Bank and East Jerusalem,” the report reads.
It goes on to note Israel’s arrest policy is aimed at “terrorizing children, distorting their reality and destroying their future”.
“Detained children were subjected to one or more forms of physical and psychological torture and were held in difficult conditions,” the Palestine Liberation Orgaization report states.
It warns such treatment would likely “affect their physical, mental and emotional development”.
More than 6,400 Palestinians -- including some 300 children -- are currently languishing in Israeli prisons according to statistics.
The Palestinian territories have remained tense since Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital last December, sparking condemnation and protest across the Arab and Muslim world.
