Stolen childhoods: Israel’s war on Palestinian children

Ramallah, Occupied West Bank: More than 350 Palestinian children have been imprisoned by Israeli forces in military camps and central prisons across the country, according to recent reports by human rights groups. Of those detained, more than 100 are being held without charge or trial under Israel’s controversial and unlawful military court system.

Palestinian child detainees face a grim reality behind bars. Like thousands of other political prisoners, they endure systemic abuse, including starvation; physical and psychological torture; denial of medical care and inhumane treatment. On 22 March 2025, the death of Walid Ahmad, a young detainee from Ramallah, marked the first known child martyr since the start of the genocide that began in October 2023.

Since then, mass arrests have intensified throughout the occupied territories, targeting civilians of all ages. Children have not been spared. In occupied Jerusalem and the West Bank alone, more than 1 200 child arrest cases have been documented. The situation in Gaza remains opaque, because Israeli authorities have blocked lawyers and human rights organisations from access to data regarding arrests and detentions.

Israel’s military court system permits the use of administrative detention against children — a practice where detainees are held without charge, often based on undisclosed evidence. Lawyers and even the children themselves are denied access to these “secret files”, undermining the most basic principles of justice. Since the escalation of violence in October 2023, the number of children held under administrative detention has reached an unprecedented level, with reports indicating that 3 498 Palestinian children are detained under this system.

In addition to imprisonment, Palestinian children are subjected to military trials that lack due process and transparency. Legal experts and human rights advocates describe these proceedings as “charade trials” that serve only to legitimise the occupation’s continued violation of children’s rights. Even more concerning is the imposition of house arrest, particularly in occupied Jerusalem, where children are cut off from education, social contact and essential support networks.

These actions are in direct violation of several international laws and conventions:

• The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which Israel has ratified, prohibits arbitrary detention and requires that detention of children be used only as a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time (Article 37).

• The Fourth Geneva Convention prohibits the transfer of protected persons from occupied territories and outlines protections for civilians, including children, during military occupation.

• The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights guarantees the right to a fair trial and protection from arbitrary arrest or detention (Articles 9 and 14).

• The Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment prohibits torture and mistreatment under any circumstances.

By continuing to detain children without charge, deny them fair trial guarantees and subject them to inhumane treatment, Israeli authorities are committing serious breaches of international law. These practices amount to grave violations of human rights and constitute war crimes under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

It is evident tht Israel has not only stolen the childhoods of Palestinian children — it is systematically trying to erase their future.

Behind bars, these children are denied the chance to dream, to learn, to grow. Instead, they are subjected to trauma, isolation and violence — not because of what they have done, but because of who they are. Children are the seeds of tomorrow, but under occupation, they are treated as threats to be crushed. Through mass incarceration, psychological torment and physical abuse, Israel is waging war on a generation, attempting to break their bodies and spirits before they ever have the chance to blossom.

This is not collateral damage. It is deliberate.

It is a calculated strategy to strip Palestinians of their next generation of leaders, thinkers and dreamers — to suffocate resistance by extinguishing hope at its root. If the world continues to look away, it becomes complicit in a system that dehumanises children and buries their futures behind prison walls. Justice demands not silence, but urgent action.

Sõzarn Barday is an attorney based in South Africa and has a particular interest in human rights in the Middle East.