Hamas calls for international action to protect Palestinian children from Israel's crimes

The Palestinian resistance movement Hamas has called on the international community to take immediate action to protect Palestinian children from Israeli brutality, saying they are suffering both in Palestine and abroad due to Israel’s occupation of their homeland.

Hamas made the appeal on “the International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression” on Saturday, urging the international community to save Palestinian children through criminalizing the Israeli occupation and putting an end to it, the Palestinian Information Center reported.

“The children of Palestine are victims of aggression and brutal occupation,” the movement said in a statement.

“This day has come once again as a reminder of the Palestinian children’s suffering and pain at home, in refugee camps, and abroad and to call upon the world to pay attention to the appalling aggression that is still practiced by the Zionist occupation against our children,” it said.

Hamas also pointed out that more than 88 Palestinian children had been killed by Israeli forces between 2021 and 2022, adding that “over 170 Palestinian children are being held in Israeli jails, where they are subjected to psychological and physical torture.”

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It went on to say that in addition to getting killed and detained, Palestinian children are used as human shields and systematically exposed to other crimes, including kidnapping, blockade, home confinement, banishment, and displacement.

The resistance movement further noted that the humanitarian suffering of Palestinian children living in the besieged Gaza Strip is also ongoing, as they are denied access to medicines, treatment, and food in violation of international law.

Hamas stressed that “The existence of the occupation on our land is the root cause of our people’s suffering, and the international failure to criminalize its violations against Palestinian children and take legal action against those who perpetrate them is considered a disgrace to the entire world.”

Hundreds of Palestinian children are regularly held in Israeli jails under a draconian administrative detention policy implemented by the Israeli regime.

According to human rights groups, the Israeli regime prosecutes between 500 and 700 Palestinian children from the occupied territories in military courts every year, and most of them are denied a fair trial.

They are interrogated blindfolded, forced to give confessions, and put into solitary confinement, while being deprived of the right to have legal counsel.

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14 Palestinian children killed since January

Meanwhile, the non-governmental organization Defense for Children International (DCI-Palestine) has reported that 14 Palestinian children have been killed by Israeli forces since the beginning of 2022.

DCI-Palestine said in a statement that the latest among these victims was a 16-year-old Palestinian who was killed by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah on Thursday, the Palestinian Information Center reported.

“The international community’s silence and lack of legal accountability encouraged the Israeli occupation army to continue killing Palestinian children,” said Ayed Abu Eqtaish, the director of the Accountability Program at the DCIP.

He also said the evidence DCI-Palestine has gathered indicates that Israeli forces use lethal force against Palestinian children, “in circumstances that may amount to extrajudicial killings or murder.”

According to DCI-Palestine, Israeli forces and armed settlers killed 78 Palestinian children in 2021, marking the deadliest year for Palestinian children since 2014.

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