The official Palestinian News Agency, Wafa, reported that the Israeli occupation has killed 61 children since the beginning of this year, 44 children in the West Bank and 17 children during the recent Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip.
The agency quoted Ayed Abu Qutaish, Director of the Accountability Program at Defense for Children International, as saying: "The martyrdom of the child Jana Zakarneh in Jenin last night raised the number of child martyrs to 61 since the beginning of this year," noting that targeting her and children without They constitute any threat that is an increase in killing, because the absence of accountability and impunity constitute a green light for the occupation soldiers to continue killing.
Abu Qutaish explained that the global movement annually submits a report to the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations for Children and Armed Conflict, and said: "In 2015 we called for the occupation army to be included in the blacklist - and the recommendation of the representative of the Secretary-General was approved, but pressure from Israel and the United States prevented without including the occupying power in the blacklist.
He continued, "We have warned for 10 years of targeting civilians, especially children, and documented the occupation's violation of the six rights: killing and maiming, child recruitment, sexual assault and rape, child abduction, attacks on educational institutions, and denial of humanitarian aid."
Abu Qutaish confirmed that the data of the Palestine branch of Defense for Children International indicate that Israel does not pay any attention to international law or to international conventions on civilians and children's rights.
Regarding the visit of the UN representative today to Palestine, Abu Qutaish said, "It is the first visit since the approval of the position in 2006, and we call for it to lead to the blacklisting of the Israeli occupation army in order to put an end to its crimes and stop impunity."
It is noteworthy that the occupation killed 78 Palestinian children during the past year in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip, 60 of them during the Israeli aggression on the Strip in May 2021, in addition to another child after the end of the aggression, while 17 children were killed in the West Bank, including Occupied Jerusalem, including two, at the hands of settlers or private Israeli security companies.
According to the Palestinian Prisoners Club, 811 children have been arrested since the beginning of this year, 150 of them are still in the occupation prisons, and the occupation authorities have arrested 11 children under administrative detention, including 4 who are still detained.
The Captive Club indicated that a number of detained children were injured during the arrest, the last of whom was the detainee, the child Hisham Haidar Taha Al-Rimawi, who was injured and arrested, and is currently in the Israeli "Schneider" Hospital, who was accompanied by the child martyr Diaa Al-Rimawi, who was martyred last Thursday after being shot. The occupation army near the village of Aboud, northwest of Ramallah.
Abu Qutaish emphasized that depriving Palestinian minors of their right to liberty through the use of administrative detention, which is the imprisonment of individuals for long periods without charge or trial, based on secret evidence, amounts to arbitrary detention, and contradicts all legal standards for the protection of juveniles.
The Global Movement indicated that judges of the Israeli Military Court confirm administrative detention orders of up to six months by a judicial decision, adding that there is no limit to the number of times an administrative detention order can be renewed, and as a result, administratively detained children face a state of uncertainty. It is imprisonment for an indefinite period.
International standards state that children should not be deprived of their liberty except as a measure of last resort, and should not be detained unlawfully or arbitrarily.
Settlers commit acts of violence against Palestinians and their property daily throughout the occupied West Bank, and between January 1 and April 18, 2022, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Aid (OCHA) documented 181 settler attacks against Palestinian civilians and their property.
The official Palestinian News Agency, Wafa, said that Defense for Children International reports show that the occupation forces often do not intervene to stop or prevent settler attacks, and often protect them while they carry out attacks and acts of violence against Palestinians and their property, although, under international law, the Israel, as the occupying power, must protect the Palestinian population living under occupation.
Impunity is widespread for settlers who attack Palestinians, and according to the Israeli human rights organization Yesh Din, 91% of investigations into settler crimes against Palestinians have been closed without indictments being filed.

Source: Middle East News Agency