Report says Israel detained over 2,000 Palestinian children since 2023

Israeli forces have detained more than 2,000 Palestinian children since October 2023, the Palestinian Prisoner's Society said in a report released on Wednesday, as described by Al Jazeera. The group said at least 350 children are currently held in Israeli prisons in harsh conditions.

The report said at least six children were arrested in Hebron in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday. It said the number of children detained in Gaza is unclear because thousands of people are missing and because of what it called a policy of enforced disappearance.

The report pointed to individual cases. It said 15-year-old Mohammed Hamid contracted scabies while held in Ofer Prison, developed severe infections, underwent heart surgery, was placed in intensive care and had one leg amputated. It said 17-year-old Walid Ahmed died in March 2025 after six months in Megiddo Prison.

In December, an Israeli judge halted the investigation into Ahmed's death, saying there was evidence of starvation but no definitive cause of death had been established, according to the report.

The report also named two detained Americans. It said Abdalkareem Issa Ahmed Safi was taken from his home in the West Bank in a late-night raid in June, turned 18 in detention and was then moved to an adult section of Ofer Prison. It said 16-year-old Adam Wajeh Abdelfattah Karakrah, also American, was arrested in July, and authorities reversed a decision to free him in August after his family secured bail.

Separately, UNICEF reported that more than 2,000 Palestinian children were injured, with more than 40 per cent injured by live ammunition.