Israeli forces have killed at least 54 Palestinian children and arrested over 900 others since the beginning of 2018, according to a report by a Palestinian human rights center. RNA - The human rights center reported that 80 percent of the children were killed during rallies in the so-called buffer zone in the Gaza strip, Middle East News reported.
The report also condemned what it described as Israel’s systematic violation of Palestinian children’s rights.
According to the group’s investigation, conducted by the Palestinian Center for Study and Documentation, Israel's rights violation is not limited to trial of children in military courts, but it starts from the moment of arrest.
The report said Israelis carry out interrogation sessions in which children are often handcuffed, blindfolded, beaten and insulted.
Since the beginning of 2018, more than 310 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces, almost all unarmed civilians, the report added.
For more than eight months, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have demonstrated along the fence demanding their right to return to the homes and land their families were expelled from 70 years ago. The Great March of Return rallies culminated on May 15 to mark what Palestinians refer to as the Nakba, or Catastrophe - a reference to the forced removal of 750,000 Palestinians from their homes and villages to clear the way for Israel's establishment in 1948.
Nearly 240 Palestinian protesters have been killed and more than 24,000 Palestinians injured by Israeli forces since the outbreak of the Great March of Return rallies at Gaza border in late March.
Most of the casualties occurred on May 14 when Israeli forces attacked Palestinians marking the 70th anniversary of Israel’s occupation of historical Palestine and the ensuing ethnic cleansing of half a million Palestinian refugees.
Figures show that more than 2,100 Palestinian children have been killed and over 13,000 wounded by Israeli live bullets since the outbreak of al-Aqsa Intifada in 2000.
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