Ramallah: Israeli occupation forces have arrested 2,500 Palestinians in the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem since the violence began to escalate about two months ago. At least 40 per cent of those detained were children.

For the first time, the regime’s military leaders have admitted that cases of soldiers’ abuse of Palestinian detainees have been on the rise.

The Occupied Territories have been witnessing large-scale Israeli raids, search and arrest operations in which dozens of Palestinians are arrested daily.

According to the Israeli daily Haaretz, which quoted army generals, since the violence began to escalate, there have been a huge number of incidents of beatings, abuse and torture of Palestinian detainees by Israeli occupation soldiers. The daily said that the rise in troop deployment in the West Bank and the huge increase in the number of Palestinian detainees could explain the surge.

According to Amani Sarahna, from the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club, Israeli occupation forces have arrested more than 1,000 Palestinian children (those below 18 years of age).

“Israel systematically tortures Palestinian children and prioritises the total elimination and destruction of this Palestinian generation,” she said. Although Israel knows torture is prohibited by the United Nations Convention Against Torture, she said, Israeli authorities systematically inflict severe physical and psychological pain and suffering on the Palestinian children to force them to refrain from participating in civil resistance.

She said that Israel’s infamous Etzion Detention Centre, which is dedicated to the Palestinian detainees of the southern governorates, mainly minors, has proved to be one of the main centres of Israeli brutality against detainees. “Palestinian minors, mainly from occupied East Jerusalem and Hebron, have been victimised in this detention centre,” she said. “Minors are being subjected to solitary confinement where they are completely cut off for interrogations for an extended, indefinite period of time.”

Israel believes that large numbers of detainees and the arrest operations at night would deter Palestinians and stem the violence. “The Israeli way of handling the Palestinian detainees does not aim to reach deterrence but actually seek revenge,” said Sarahna. “Israel aims to destroy the generation of the current wave of resistance psychologically.”

The latest surge in violence was triggered by Israeli incursions into Al Haram Al Sharif in occupied East Jerusalem. Palestinians harbour serious doubts that Israel is seeking to change the status quo of the holy site. According to the existing status quo, Israelis are allowed to visit the holy site but they are not allowed to pray and perform religious rituals inside it.

During violent clashes, stabbings and vehicle-borne attacks, 110 Palestinians and 20 Israelis have been killed.