Prison Resides Within Me - Palestinian Children in Israeli Detention - Visualizing Palestine - April 2026

	A	B	C	D	E	F
1	PRISON RESIDES WITHIN ME
2	Visual by Visualizing Palestine and #ItsNotOver4Palestine
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4	STATEMENT	DESCRIPTION/EXCERPT	SOURCE	PUBLISHED	SOURCE URL	LAST ACCESSED
5	Every year, hundreds of Palestinian children face arrest, interrogation, and detention in an Israeli military system that institutionalizes abuse.	"Israel prosecutes between 500 and 700 Palestinian children in military courts each year. Since 2000, Israeli military authorities have detained, interrogated, prosecuted, and imprisoned approximately 13,000 Palestinian children, according to estimates by DCIP."	Defense for Children International - Palestine	-	https://www.dci-palestine.org/military_detention	March 26, 2026
6		"351 Palestinian children are detained in Israeli prisons as of December 31, 2025, according to the latest data available from the Israel Prison Service (IPS). 180 children, or 51 percent of the total, are held in administrative detention without charge or trial, which is both the highest number and the highest proportion on record since Defense for Children International - Palestine began monitoring these numbers in 2008."	Defense for Children International - Palestine	2025	https://www.dci-palestine.org/more_than_half_of_palestinian_child_detainees_have_no_charges	March 26, 2026
7		Figures on Palestinian children in Israeli detention to not include those forcibly disappeared from Gaza. As of November 2025, DCIP reports "Israel continues to conceal the identities and locations of Gaza detainees...Under international law, the enforced disappearance and arbitrary detention of children are prohibited acts that may amount to crimes against humanity."	Defense for Children International - Palestine	2025	https://www.dci-palestine.org/palestinian_children_disappear_amid_israeli_military_detentions_in_gaza	March 26, 2026
8	Israel is the only country in the world that systematically prosecutes children in military courts.	-	Defense for Children International - Palestine	-	https://www.dci-palestine.org/military_detention	March 26, 2026
9	DETENTION
10	89% no reason given for arrest	"Out of 325 cases, 89 percent of children reported that their arrests were conducted without providing themselves or their families with the reason for their arrest. A justification for an arrest is rarely presented during a child’s arrest."	Defense for Children International - Palestine report to the United Nations for the 83rd Session of the Committee Against Torture (CAT)	2025	https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=INT%2FCAT%2FNGO%2FISR%2F66410&Lang=en	March 26, 2026
11	73% beaten	"During the arrest: 73% were beaten (kicked, punched, slapped), including 47% who reported being beaten with sticks or weapons including the butt of a gun"	Save the Children	2023	https://www.savethechildren.net/news/stripped-beaten-and-blindfolded-new-research-reveals-ongoing-violence-and-abuse-palestinian	March 26, 2026
12	65% taken from home at night	Based on a study of 228 former child detainees. "65% of children were arrested during the night, mostly between midnight and dawn"	Save the Children	2023	https://www.savethechildren.net/news/stripped-beaten-and-blindfolded-new-research-reveals-ongoing-violence-and-abuse-palestinian	March 26, 2026
13	42% injured, including gunshot wounds, broken bones	Based on a study of 228 former child detainees. "During arrest, 42% of children suffered injuries, including gunshot wounds and broken bones. A range of other injuries were reported, from shoulder dislocation, to bruising, to suffocation."	Save the Children	2023	https://www.savethechildren.net/news/stripped-beaten-and-blindfolded-new-research-reveals-ongoing-violence-and-abuse-palestinian	March 26, 2026
14	INTERROGATION
15	94% interrogated with no family present	"Out of 325 cases, 55 percent of Palestinian children were denied access to legal counsel before being interrogated, and 94 percent reported that no family member was present during their interrogation."	Defense for Children International - Palestine report to the United Nations for the 83rd Session of the Committee Against Torture (CAT)	2025	https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=INT%2FCAT%2FNGO%2FISR%2F66410&Lang=en	March 26, 2026
16	73% shown/made to sign documents in Hebrew, a language they do not understand	"Research by Military Court Watch found that 73% of children are shown or made to sign documentation written in Hebrew at some point during the investigation, a language that most Palestinian children don’t understand. This was confirmed by children who participated in this study."	Save the Children	2023	https://www.savethechildren.net/news/stripped-beaten-and-blindfolded-new-research-reveals-ongoing-violence-and-abuse-palestinian	March 26, 2026
17	69% strip searched/sexually abused	"Some children reported sexual violence and abuse, including being hit or touched on the genitals and 69% reported being strip searched during interrogation." "Previous reports have indicated that children may be subject to sexual violence and abuse within the military detention system. Though this is known to be significantly underreported by former child detainees, reports suggest as many as 40% of children detained in Jerusalem in 2014 had been subject to sexual abuse by Israeli authorities45 and there have been reports in 2022 of children facing sexual harassment in prisons from Israeli officers."	Save the Children	2023	https://www.savethechildren.net/news/stripped-beaten-and-blindfolded-new-research-reveals-ongoing-violence-and-abuse-palestinian	March 26, 2026
18		"Children—especially those with histories of sexual abuse—may experience a strip search as a form of state-ordered sexual abuse...research has shown that strip searches, performed even as intended, can cause children to experience anxiety, depression, loss of concentration, sleep disturbances, difficulty performing in school, phobic reactions, shame, guilt, and other lasting emotional scars. Strip searches can also retraumatize children who are survivors of sexual abuse."	Riya Saha Shah and Jessica Rachel Feierman, American Bar Association Human Rights Magazine	2021	https://www.americanbar.org/groups/crsj/resources/human-rights/archive/strip-searching-children-state-imposed-trauma/	March 26, 2026
19		"The APPG’s inquiry reveals that strip searches are experienced by children as deeply traumatic, humiliating, and dehumanising. Children described feeling violated and degraded, with some likening the experience to abuse, which is particularly distressing for those with a history of trauma or sexual abuse. Even when officers acted respectfully, the process of being forced to remove clothing and expose intimate parts to adult strangers was described as deeply distressing and damaging to children's dignity and trust in authority."	Youth Justice Legal Center, citing study by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Children in Police Custody	2025	https://yjlc.uk/resources/legal-updates/strip-searches-children-trauma-disproportionality-and-appgs-recommendations	March 26, 2026
20	46% threatened with harm to family members	Based on a study of 228 former child detainees. "46% received threats that their family members would be harmed or arrested."	Save the Children	2023	https://www.savethechildren.net/news/stripped-beaten-and-blindfolded-new-research-reveals-ongoing-violence-and-abuse-palestinian	March 26, 2026
21	INCARCERATION
22	86% beaten	Based on a study of 228 former child detainees. "The majority of children experienced appalling levels of physical and emotional abuse, including being beaten (86%), being threatened with harm (70%), and hit with sticks or guns (60%).	Save the Children	2023	https://www.savethechildren.net/news/stripped-beaten-and-blindfolded-new-research-reveals-ongoing-violence-and-abuse-palestinian	March 26, 2026
23	60% held in solitary confinement - longest reported period: 48 days	Based on a study of 228 former child detainees. "60% of children experienced solitary confinement with the length of time varying from one day to as long as 48 days.	Save the Children	2023	https://www.savethechildren.net/news/stripped-beaten-and-blindfolded-new-research-reveals-ongoing-violence-and-abuse-palestinian	March 26, 2026
24	58% denied adequate food/water	"Detained children are systematically deprived of food, water, hygiene, rest and medical attention. Out of 325 cases, 58 percent reported lacking access to adequate food and water."	Defense for Children International - Palestine report to the United Nations for the 83rd Session of the Committee Against Torture (CAT)	2025	https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=INT%2FCAT%2FNGO%2FISR%2F66410&Lang=en	March 26, 2026
25	51% held without charge or trial, a record high proportion	"351 Palestinian children are detained in Israeli prisons as of December 31, 2025, according to the latest data available from the Israel Prison Service (IPS). 180 children, or 51 percent of the total, are held in administrative detention without charge or trial, which is both the highest number and the highest proportion on record since Defense for Children International - Palestine began monitoring these numbers in 2008."	Defense for Children International - Palestine	2025	https://www.dci-palestine.org/more_than_half_of_palestinian_child_detainees_have_no_charges	March 26, 2026
26	AFTER RELEASE
27	73% insomnia / 53% nighmares	Based on a study of 228 former child detainees. "73% of children reported suffering from insomnia or having difficulty sleeping, 53% had nightmares, 62% frequently felt angry and 48% felt like they always needed to be alone."	Save the Children	2023	https://www.savethechildren.net/news/stripped-beaten-and-blindfolded-new-research-reveals-ongoing-violence-and-abuse-palestinian	March 26, 2026
28	59% fear rearrest	Based on a study of 228 former child detainees. "59% frequently think about the possibility of being arrested again in future."	Save the Children	2023	https://www.savethechildren.net/news/stripped-beaten-and-blindfolded-new-research-reveals-ongoing-violence-and-abuse-palestinian	March 26, 2026
29	57% headaches or dizzines	Based on a study of 228 former child detainees. "The impact of military detention on physical heath has also increased since 2020, such as children feeling: Headaches and dizziness (57% in 2023 compared to 35% in 2020)." The report also discusses difficulty breathing, chest pain, exhaustion, and loss of appetite as symptoms of trauma.	Save the Children	2023	https://www.savethechildren.net/news/stripped-beaten-and-blindfolded-new-research-reveals-ongoing-violence-and-abuse-palestinian	March 26, 2026
30	"It feels as though I have never truly escaped; the prison is inside me.”	“Ever since my release from prison, I have struggled to sleep like others do,” he told DCIP. “Each time I shut my eyes, I am haunted by the same location, the same faces, the same cell. I awaken in terror, feeling as though I am still trapped within those cold walls. My mother gently wakes me, but my eyes are filled with fear, and my heart races as if I am still undergoing interrogation. The concept of deep sleep is foreign to me. I manage to doze off in bits, yet I frequently awaken. Nightmares are my constant companions, invading my nights with the faces of soldiers and their shouts echoing in my mind. It feels as though I have never truly escaped; the prison is inside me.”	Defense for Children International - Palestine report to the United Nations for the 83rd Session of the Committee Against Torture (CAT)	2025	https://www.dci-palestine.org/_the_prison_is_inside_me_three_released_palestinian_boys_abducted_tortured_by_israeli_forces_while_seeking_aid	March 26, 2026
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