7,000 Palestinians, including minors, arrested by Israel in 2022: report

Israeli authorities arrested 7,000 Palestinians this year, including hundreds of women and minors, with an increase in administrative detentions, a report by the Palestine Center for Prisoners Studies (PCPS) has shown.

The centre documented at least 164 arrests of Palestinian women as well as 865 arrests of children among the thousands detained by Israel in 2022.

PCPS director Riyad Al-Ashqar said all detainees were subject to abuse, torture or humiliation.

He says Israel escalated its crackdown on Palestinians expressing their opinions online, especially on Facebook, adding that 410 Palestinians had been detained following online activity, under the pretext that their social media posts were "incitement against the occupation."

Some received prison sentences, while others were transferred to administrative detention without trial.

Most, Al-Ashqar says, were ordered to stop using Facebook and other social media sites for several months.

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Administrative detainees have neither been charged with a crime nor granted a trial, and they and their lawyers are prevented from seeing the evidence against them.

The detention orders typically last between three to six months and can be renewed indefinitely. The practice has been criticised by human rights organisations who consider it a breach of due process.

The PCPS report says there was an increase in the administrative detention of Palestinians by Israel this year, reaching 2,340, including the renewal of 1,239 detentions.

They ranged between two and six months, with some detainees having their detentions renewed five times according to the centre.

Among the 865 minors arrested, 142 of them were children under the age 12, and some hadn’t even reached nine years of age, the PCPS report said.

It added that fines imposed on minors by Israeli courts amounted to around $140,000 in 2022.

In Jerusalem, Israeli authorities arrested a total of 2,990 Palestinians, "affecting all segments of Jerusalemite society, with a specific focus on children," the report said.

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Another 108 Palestinians from Gaza were detained, including 63 fishermen, and 34 Palestinians who allegedly tried crossing the border into Israel.

The Gaza Strip has been under siege by Israel since its pull-out in 2007, and Israel has placed tight restrictions on the Palestinian territory’s fishing industry.

Other than the arrests, Israeli authorities have killed more than 125 Palestinians in raids this year in the occupied West Bank.

The United Nations Mideast envoy says the violence has made 2022 the deadliest year for Palestinians for more than a decade.

A new extreme-right government in Israel has raised concerns among Palestinians who fear further violence and persecution.