Detention Bulletin February 2014 At the end of February, a total of 230 Palestinian children were imprisoned and prosecuted in the Israeli military court system, an increase of 25.7 percent over January.



The number of young children detained between the ages of 12 and 15 was 36 , an increase of 80 percent from January.



In February, the US Department of State released its annual publication, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices. The section on Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory relied on DCI-Palestine documentation and highlighted the ill-treatment and torture of Palestinian children in Israeli military detention.



Richard Falk, UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, also released a report drawing in attention to the "widespread, systematic and institutionalized" ill-treatment of Palestinian children in Israeli military detention.



Lieutenant-Colonel Maurice Hirsch, Israel's Chief Military Prosecutor for the occupied West Bank, said in an interview that he will soon publicly unveil a new pilot program requiring written summonses to Palestinian minors wanted for questioning instead of arresting during night raids.



In February, DCI-Palestine documented several cases involving children that received calls to their mobile phones from Israeli intelligence officers. The officers demanded the children report for questioning the following morning. In each case, children were taken into custody, denied access to a lawyer, and interrogated without the presence of a family member. All children experienced some form of ill-treatment while at least one of them, a 17-year-old boy , was beaten during interrogation.



DCI-Palestine briefed the Working Group of the UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People on February 24 at UN headquarters in New York on Palestinian children's rights. To watch the briefing, click here February 2014 Detention Data Each year approximately 500-700 Palestinian children, some as young as 12 years, are detained and prosecuted in the Israeli military court system.

The most common charge is for throwing stones. Currently, 124 Palestinian child prisoners are detained inside Israel in violation of Article 76 of the Fourth Geneva Convention.



Below is the latest data from the Israeli Prison Service (IPS) on the number of Palestinian children in Israeli military detention at the end of each month. Total number of Palestinian children in Israeli detention at end of each month

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Aver. 2009 389 423 420 391 346 355 342 339 326 325 306 305 355 2010 318 343 342 335 305 291 284 286 269 256 228 213 289 2011 222 221 226 220 211 209 202 180 164 150 161 135 192 2012 170 187 206 220 234 221 211 195 189 164 178 195 198 2013 223 236 238 238 223 193 195 179 179 159 173 154 199 2014 183 230 207 Note: These figures are not cumulative Number of 12-15 year old Palestinians in Israeli detention at end of each month

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Aver. 2009 50 54 53 47 39 47 42 39 40 44 41 42 44 2010 44 41 39 32 25 23 18 20 32 34 32 30 31 2011 34 45 45 37 38 38 40 34 35 30 33 19 36 2012 26 24 31 33 39 35 34 30 28 21 21 23 29 2013 31 39 39 44 48 41 35 30 27 15 16 14 32 2014 20 36 28 Note: These figures are not cumulative For more DCI-Palestine news alerts, features and commentary click here.