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Israel arrested 429 Palestinians, including 32 kids, in July: Rights groups

Israeli soldiers detain a peace activist during a protest against Israel’s plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank, in Haris near the Palestinian city of Salfit, August 7, 2020. (Photo by Reuters)

Israel has detained 429 Palestinians, including 32 children, in July, adding that the bulk of the arrests were made in Jerusalem al-Quds, Palestinian rights groups say.​​​​​​

The institutions said in a joint statement on Wednesday that 201 of the detainees are from al-Quds, while 13 others are from the Gaza Strip and the rest from several areas across the West Bank.

According to the statement, the total number of Palestinian detainees held in Israeli prisons has reached 4,500, including 41 females.

The institutions that issued the statement are the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs, the Palestinian Prisoners Club, the ADDAMEER Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, and Wadi Hilweh Information Center – Silwan.

The statement explained the state of the detainees and the circumstances of their arrests as well as their suffering amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The institutions said the Israeli forces adopt “unfair” policies to harass the prisoners.

“They exploit the pandemic to undermine the lawyers’ work and prevent them from visiting the prisoners,” the statement said, adding the ban also includes the detainees’ families.

It noted that the Israeli authorities turned some detention centers that are not suitable for human detention into quarantines for newly-arrested people in which they are held for 14 days without being referred to investigation, and which also lack the least sterilizers.

The institutions urged the international community to exert pressure on the Israeli regime to release the sick prisoners and women and children, and to allow an impartial international commission to review the conditions of the prisoners and the results of their coronavirus test samples.

The statement also noted that the number of detainees under administrative detention has reached about 360.

The administrative detention is an imprisonment without trial or charge in which Israel keeps the detainees for up to six months, periods that are in turn extendable an infinite number of times.

Such detentions are given on orders from a military commander and on the basis of what the regime describes as secret evidence.

Some prisoners have been held in administrative detention for up to 11 years without any charges having been brought against them.

Human rights groups, including the Israeli group B’Tselem, have said the practice violates international law.


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