Two in three Palestinian detainees at Israel's Gush Etzion jail are children: CDA

Two in three of the Palestinians detained at Israel's Gush Etzion detention centre are children, the Palestinian Authority body tasked with protecting the rights of Palestinian prisoners of Israel said on Wednesday.

The Committee of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs (CDA) said there are 24 children in the centre, situated in Palestine's illegally occupied West Bank, The New Arab's Arabic-language sister service, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, reported.

"Most of the underage prisoners who were recently arrested and placed in the [Gush] Etzion detention centre were subjected to various kinds of physical and psychological torture during their arrest, and also while being interrogated in the investigation cells," the body said.

The CDA alleged the children were severely beaten, stood on, thrown to the ground, verbally abused and hit with rifles.

After being taken into Israeli custody, they spent hours cuffed and unfed in military camps before they were moved to the jail, the prisoners' rights authority said.

There are 39 detainees total in the Gush Etzion facility.

This revelation comes as Israeli authorities scramble to locate two of six Palestinian prisoners who carried out a daring escape from the Gilboa Prison last week.

One or more of those still on the run could now be in Jenin, being assisted as they hole up in the area, according the head of Israel's army, Aviv Kochavi, on Wednesday.

He spoke with Tel Aviv-based Channel 12 about "the possibility of launching a large-scale military operation" there, Anadolu Agency reported.

Jenin is the hometown of all six of those who broke free from the jail, including the four now taken back into custody.