The young Palestinian experienced physical abuse during his initial unlawful incarceration in Israel, a recurring violation from the aggressor that has been observed by international human rights watchdogs.
Hamas has called on mediators in Israel’s brutal war to ensure that the aggressor “live up to what was agreed upon,” following the re-imprisonment of a Palestinian boy in the occupied West Bank.
Al Jazeera reported on Thursday that Hamas had also issued a warning of “ramifications” to Israel if the boy was not released.
Reports emerged from the Wafa news agency of occupation forces putting 17-year-old Youssef Al Khatib in prison again on Saturday.
He was initially freed on November 27 during a temporary ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, which was mediated by Qatar and Egypt.
Al Khatib is just one out of many children held in Israeli prisons.
According to the Defense for Children Palestine NGO, approximately 500 to 700 Palestinian children as young as 12 are unlawfully incarcerated by Israel’s military court system each year.
Palestine’s children are commonly charged with stone-throwing.
Administrative detention
During his initial imprisonment, the Israeli authorities held Al Khatib without charging him and he didn’t undergo the due trial process.
Under the ‘Security Provisions Order’ doctrine, Israel routinely preemptively jails Palestinians in the occupied West Bank that they suspect will commit crimes in the future.
According to the director of the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club in Jericho, Eid Brahma, this marks the first instance of Israel rearresting a Palestinian from the November 24 to December 1 prisoner-captive swap agreement.
For the Prisoners’ Club, this is in “clear violation” of last year’s breakthrough deal, which saw the release of at least 110 Israeli and foreign captives from Gaza.
This was in exchange for a further 240 Palestinian women and children being set free from Israeli prisons.
In line with Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent rhetoric of there being no alternative to continuing his brutal war, Al Khatib’s rearrest is also indicative of Israel doubling down on its aggressive expansionism.
A harrowing torture trend in Israeli prisons
The Prisoners’ Club also highlighted that during his initial detention, Al Khatib was subject to beatings by Israeli forces. This harrowing trend has been observed by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International.
Both human rights watchdogs have documented numerous instances of the degrading detention conditions faced by Palestinians in Israeli prisons.
Aside from beatings, Palestinians released from Israeli prisoners also said they were subjected to electric shocks, urinated on, attacked by dogs as well and held for several days without food or water.
Israeli human rights group Gisha reported similar findings among Palestinian labourers who had their right to work in Israel permits suddenly revoked and left in legal limbo.
They experienced being blindfolded, starved, beaten and left in prison, unable to reach out to their families or lawyers.
Worse still, Physicians for Human Rights Israel confirmed on December 5 that since October 7, six Palestinians have died while in Israeli detention.
Since October 7, Israel’s indiscriminate onslaught of the Gaza Strip is also estimated to have killed at least 25,700 Palestinians and left a further 63,740 injured.
