Ramallah – Together – Defense for Children International confirmed that the Israeli occupation forces continue to mistreat and torture the Palestinian children they arrest in a systematic and widespread manner.
The Global Movement documented the case of the child Majd Radwan (14 years old) from the town of Azzun in Qalqilya Governorate, who was subjected to torture and ill-treatment by occupation soldiers during his arrest on the twenty-ninth of last April.
The child Majd said in his testimony that the occupation soldiers arrested him while he was in the western neighborhood of the town with a group of his friends, after two military vehicles chased them for a short distance, during which his friends succeeded in escaping, while he was forced to stop, for fear of being trampled.
He continued: ‘As soon as I stopped, about 10 soldiers got out from inside the two military vehicles, and pointed their weapons at me. Then one of them came forward and kicked me in the face with his foot (with his hammer), and I f
ell to the ground. He continued to assault me ??with severe beatings for about 30 continuous minutes. He was hitting me with the butt of his gun, his hands, and his feet, and I was screaming.’ I cried from fear and pain, then he tied my hands with a single plastic tie to the back and blindfolded me, then he pushed me into one of the military jeeps and made me sit on its floor.’
He added: “Inside the jeep, two soldiers renewed their assault on me, severely beating me all over my body. One of them put the front of his military butt in my mouth, simultaneously stomping on my chest with his other foot. I was screaming and crying from the intensity of pain and fear, and I felt like I was going to suffocate, and the assault on me continued.” Inside the pocket about 10 minutes.’
The occupation soldiers took the child Majd to the military point established at the northern entrance to Azzun, according to what he reported to the global movement.
He continued: “One of the soldiers took me out of the jeep and forced m
e to stand without allowing me to move my body at all. Then he hit me with the butt of his rifle on my chest, head and waist while cursing me with the filthiest insults. I was begging him to stop hitting me, but to no avail. Then he put his hands on my neck.” He pressed with all force and said to me in Arabic, ‘I want to kill you by suffocation,’ and I felt very dizzy as a result of that before I lost consciousness.’
The child Majd added: ‘I regained consciousness at about five o’clock in the evening of that day, and I found myself lying at the door of a room. I was still handcuffed and blindfolded. I heard a dog barking and a cat meowing next to me, so I started screaming out of fear. At those moments, one of the soldiers said to me: In Arabic (I want to let the dog delegate you), I cried and begged a lot, but he was mocking me and mocking me, and indeed the dog and cat approached me, so I felt the dog’s body touching me and it was making a scary sound, and the soldier was controlling it. Whenever it got to
o close to me, the soldier pulled it a little, while the cat caused me I suffered several wounds on my face and various parts of my body, and this continued until approximately two o’clock in the morning the next day.’
The soldier took the dog and cat away from the child Majd, then returned to him and hit him on the chest and head with his feet, and hit his head against a wall several times, according to what was stated in the statement.
“I was exhausted and could no longer cry or scream. I felt very thirsty, so I told the soldier about it, but he ignored my request and asked me to remain silent. After that, I was pulled and pushed into a military jeep, and there the assault on me was repeated, and one of the soldiers said to me in Arabic, ‘I want to break your hands.’ And your feet) before he hit me hard on my hands and feet,’ said the child Majd.
The occupation soldiers took the child Majd to a police station in the ‘Emmanuel’ settlement (established on the lands of the Salfit and Qalqilya governorates).
There they placed him in a square and asked him to remain standing. At approximately three-thirty in the morning on the same day, they took him to the investigation, which lasted for about two hours while he was subjected to He was beaten and shouted at by the investigator, according to his testimony.
The child added: ‘After the interrogation with me was over, my hands were handcuffed with a single plastic tie to the back and my eyes were blindfolded. The soldiers put me inside a vehicle and said, ‘We will take you to the Ariel’ colony (established on the lands of Salfit Governorate). There they put me in a yard, and one of them sprayed me with water until I got wet.’ Then he spit on me, and at about 7:30 a.m. they removed the blindfold from my eyes and one of them told me that I would be transferred to Megiddo prison. During the way, I was beaten, assaulted, and insulted, and the soldiers were filming videos of me with their cell phones while they assaulted me. I was crying.’
After the child Majd arrived a
t ‘Megiddo’ prison at nine-thirty in the morning, the soldiers put him in a yard for about an hour, and then transferred him to ‘Ofer’ prison (which is located on the lands of Beitunia, west of Ramallah), and there they told him that there was no room for him, so they returned him to the colony. “Ariel” and they put him in a yard in a hot atmosphere after blindfolding him, for about two hours.
‘I was feeling dizzy and exhausted as a result of being deprived of food, water, or the use of the toilet during the entire period of my detention. After two hours had passed, I was pulled into a vehicle. After about 10 minutes of driving, the vehicle stopped, and one of the soldiers removed the plastic bandage from my hands and the blindfold from my eyes, and pushed me out of the vehicle. So I looked around and realized that I was at the intersection of Haris village, near the ‘Ariel’ settlement, said the child Majd.
He continued: “I could not move or stand and remained on the ground until a Palestinian vehicle stopp
ed next to me, and its driver took me to my town of Azzun after I told him what happened to me. There I was transferred to Azzun Governmental Hospital, where I received treatment and first aid, before returning home.”
During the period extending between January 1, 2016 and December 31, 2023, Defense for Children International documented 838 cases of torture of Palestinian children arrested by the Israeli occupation army.
The Global Movement warned that the continued policy of impunity and lack of accountability enjoyed by the occupation soldiers, and their prior knowledge that they will not be held accountable for their actions, whatever they may be, encourages them to continue and escalate their violations, which poses a threat to the lives of Palestinian civilians, especially children.
The comprehensive and absolute prohibition against torture enshrined in international law means that no child or adult shall be subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
Source: M
aan News Agency