Zionist Forces Killed 3,000 Palestinian Minors since Second Intifada

Palestinian officials say Zionist military forces have killed 3,000 Palestinian minors and injured many more since the Second Intifada (uprising), also known as the al-Aqsa Intifada, took place in September 2000.

In a report published on the occasion of the International Day for Protection of Children marked on June 1, the Palestinian Ministry of Information, announced that 13,000 children have sustained injuries ever since.

 The report noted that as many as72 Palestinian minors have lost their lives since October 2015, when a new wave of tensions broke out in the occupied territories in the wake of Israeli forces’ restrictions on the entry of Palestinian worshipers into the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in East Jerusalem al-Quds.

The youngest victim was identified as eight-month-old Ramadan Mohammad Faisal Thawabta, who died on October 30, 2015 due to inhaling excessive tear gas fired by Israeli military forces during clashes with Palestinian protesters in Beit Fajjar town south of Bethlehem.

The Palestinian Ministry of Information added that some 12,000 Palestinian children have been arrested by Israeli troopers over the past 17 years, adding that an overwhelming majority of them have been beaten or tortured while in Israeli custody, handcuffed, blindfolded and forced to confess in the absence of a lawyer or guardian.

According to Palestinian prisoners rights group Addameer, Israeli forces have imprisoned 300 Palestinian minors since April.

Moreover, Palestinians, including minors, could face severe penalties, including up to 20 years in prison, if charged with throwing stones at Israeli military vehicles and a minimum prison sentence of three years for throwing a stone at an Israeli settler.

Israeli rights group “B’Tselem” reported earlier this year that between 2005 and 2010, “93 percent of the minors convicted of stone throwing were given a prison sentence, its length ranging from a few days to 20 months.”

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