Officials: Palestinian minors assaulted, beaten in Israeli custody

The Palestinian Authority Department of Prisoner's Affairs said Wednesday that "dozens" of Palestinian minors jailed by Israel have recently been beaten or assaulted during their time in Israeli custody.

In a statement, the department reported the testimonies of two Palestinian minors who lawyer Hiba Ighbarya visited in HaSharon prison in central Israel.

Sixteen-year-old prisoner Muhammad Khaled Sharifeh from the Old City of Jerusalem said he was detained on July 7 as he was leaving the Al-Aqsa Mosque at noon.

He said he was attacked by several Israeli soldiers, searched, detained as his hands were cuffed with plastic zip ties, and placed in a military vehicle.

Sharifeh said he was seated between two Israeli soldiers and forced to keep his head down during the ride to a detention center in the Salah al-Din area of Jerusalem. 

When he raised his head up during the ride, he said he was "vigorously beaten."

Once inside the interrogation center, he was hit several times on his face, and eventually transferred to the Russian compound jail. There he was held for six days, after which he was tried and sentenced to house arrest.

On Aug. 21, Sharifeh was tried again and given the choice of either being deported or jailed. He chose jail, and was taken first to a prison in al-Ramla and then to HaSharon, where he says he was strip searched.

In another case, 17-year-old Wissan Hussein Awri from Wadi al-Juz in Jerusalem said he was detained on Aug. 1 when he was attacked by undercover Israeli forces in his neighborhood around 1 p.m.

Awri said one of the officers held him by his neck as another beat him. They then threw him on the ground, punched and kicked him, and cuffed his hands and feet. He was then taken to an interrogation center and was interrogated with his hands and feet still cuffed.

He said he spent 45 days in the Russian compound jail in Jerusalem, and was then taken to HaSharon prison where he also says he underwent a strip search.

In a high-profile case this year, 15-year-old Palestinian-American Tarek Abu Khdeir was badly beaten by Israeli police officers during protests against his cousin Muhammad's brutal murder by Jewish extremists.

The incident was caught on tape, and pictures of Tarek's swollen face spread across social media and prompted official US condemnation.

After Tarek was released from Israeli custody days later, his mother Suha told reporters that if her son did not have American citizenship, "he would just be pushed to the side like a dog," rather than being freed.

According to Defense for Children International -- Palestine, some 201 Palestinian children were currently being held in Israeli custody as of August.