Young people in the West Bank, occupied by Israel, are often taken from their beds, beaten and imprisoned. Throwing stones is the most common charge.
For every 10 hostages Hamas has released in Gaza in the past six days, Israel has released 30 Palestinian women and minors.
For Israel, everyone has been convicted by military tribunals of all convictions ranging from attempted to vague wording"Breach of the security zone"and other crimes.
There are also stone throws. This is the most common crime for which the Israeli military holds Palestinian minors, and it is also a tribute to many Palestinian teenagers in the West Bank, who are constantly being stationed in villages in the occupied West Bank.
According to Israeli and foreign human rights groups, the well-documented journey these teenagers underwent from being captured by armed soldiers at night to their eventual conviction was marked by beatings, harassment, separation from their families, and culminating in months in Israeli prisons.
According to **data, as of September, there were about 146 inmates in Israeli prisons"Security crimes"of Palestinian minors, the youngest of whom is only 14 years old. On October 7, Hamas launched a cross-border terrorist attack on Israel, killing 1,200 people, and Israel has since arrested many more, the final number unknown.
Minors were separated from adults, but prison conditions deteriorated dramatically after October 7, according to human rights groups and those released during the truce. They said more teenagers were crammed into each cell, less food was provided, and family visits were cut off.
One girl told Al Jazeera that she had been hit with tear gas on several occasions. Three boys told ** that they had been beaten, sprayed with pepper and slapped during the escort, and one of them said he had been threatened with a firearm while being interrogated.
The Israeli military forwarded all inquiries on this issue to the Ministry of Justice, which in turn forwarded it to Simbet (Israel's Internal Security Service), which did not respond to questions.
Unlike Palestinians in the occupied territories, these teenagers are sent to military courts, unlike Israeli settlers, who enjoy greater protection from civilian courts. Information Centre for Human Rights in the Occupied Israeli Territories (b)'Human rights groups such as Tselem and Human Rights Watch have pointed out this difference in support of their approach to the West Bank"Apartheid", but Israel refuses to accept this accusation.
Evidence in military courts, including against minors, is often presented in secret, and some of it is not disclosed to their lawyers. Almost all plead guilty to avoid long, complicated and expensive trials, resulting in a conviction rate of over 90%.
In the small village of Beit your al-Tahta, 16-year-old Rais Osman, with a mustache, sits next to his father, baffled by the bargaining chips he had taken from a local pizza delivery boy into an exchange between Israeli and Palestinian hostages and prisoners.
Rais's parents said at least a dozen Israeli soldiers broke into Rais's home during Ramadan in April. According to the Israeli rights group"Protect your personal center"The Center for the Defence of the Individual (Hebrew acronym) said that the vast majority of arrests of Palestinian minors in the West Bank took place at night.
Jessica Montell, executive director of Hamaked, said:"Palestinian minors were detained during these very painful night arrests. Instead of issuing a summons, a large group of soldiers appeared in the middle of the night and dragged the teenage boy out of bed.
Groups such as Hamaked have documented many similarly harsh treatments, but individual accounts are often not independently verifiable and do not include claims of systematic torture.
Rais woke up with a gun pointed in his face and his parents not being warned by the military to know where he was going. They said that the soldiers did not allow him to wear trousers, blindfolded him, tied his hands with plastic handcuffs and put him in a military jeep with his brother, who was released in September.
His mother, Wala (36), said"I hope no one will go through a life like this, and you will feel fear, despair, and anger when you don't know what they will do to your son. As soon as one of us throws stones, the Israelis will see us as ***"
While Rais was in custody, his 41-year-old father, Khalil, would sit outside the military courtroom at Ofer prison in the West Bank, hoping to catch a glimpse of his son as he was brought to court and bring him food.
Khalil feared that Rais would confess under duress"Something he didn't do"γHe said:"You'll sit there, in the sun, in the cold wind, in the prison gates, all day and all night, and you'll just sit there and wait. "
Rais's father said he was eventually sentenced to nine months in prison for throwing stones. The IDF did not respond to inquiries about his specific charges.
Khalil was also imprisoned for throwing stones as a young man, he said"There is not a single family in Palestine that has not been in this situation, I live under occupation and all I can do is throw stones. "
After October 7, prison rations were cut to a small cup of yogurt, some rice, and hot dogs per day. Lais said"There will never be enough for all of us to eat. "
Television and radio were cut off, he said, to prevent the teenagers from knowing that there were negotiations about their release, or even that there was a war at all. It is only when new prisoners are brought in that they hear from the outside world.
On Saturday, Mr. Rice was released as part of an exchange of hostages and prisoners between Israel and Hamas. His presence sparked celebration among Palestinian families, with crowds gathering around Ofer prison to set off firecrackers and Israeli police firing tear gas.
They were released under the pressure of hostage negotiations, much to the embarrassment of the far-right minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who often referred to Palestinians as ***
Bengvir had ordered police to disperse family celebrations in East Jerusalem, dismantle tents and loot sweets and food that families had prepared for their neighbors.
The release of Palestinian prisoners has also traumatized some Israelis. Moriah Cohen, who was stabbed by a neighbor in East Jerusalem, told Kan Radio that her attackers were back on the same street. She said"The day she came back, I literally closed the window. For me, it's an act of refusal, she's wandering among us, and, my kids know exactly what she's doing. "
On the street of Rais's house, Mohammed Darwishh, who had spent his 16th birthday in an Israeli prison, was playing with his sisters, and his mother recounted what happened to him. While Darwish was Xi in Ramallah, soldiers broke into their huts, forced the family to sit for hours, denied them water, and threatened to demolish their home.
The next day, Darwish turned himself in at a checkpoint. He said that during the interrogation, a soldier pointed a gun to his face and asked him to confess and hand over the names of his friends. He said:"I said, "If you want to kill me, kill me." "
Darwish's mother said he was held at the Moscovya Detention Center in Jerusalem for 46 days, where he was denied asthma medication prescribed by doctors for weeks.
They often beat me, scolded me, yelled at me. They would give us a thin blanket and the room was cold and full of cockroaches"He said:
His mother said he was held in solitary confinement for six days and was eventually sentenced to eight months in prison for throwing stones. An IDF document called him guilty:"Drop bombs"γ
In the days leading up to his sentencing, he was kept locked up in a metal van without seats, traveling around Israel, and being roasted for hours in the heat of the day, a system that Palestinian prisoners call it"Postal service"γ
He said:"You've always dreamed of being released. "
He said when he heard that he would be released"My heart felt like it was going to fly. When I got off the bus for the first time and saw the sky without fences and screens, I was dizzy. "
Now, as part of a hostage and prisoner exchange program, he has been released to return home with his family, but he doesn't know what he's going to do and whether he'll be able to get a job or finish school.
Someone will always resist,"His mother said. "How else can we end the occupation?"