World Bulletin / News Desk

Human Rights Watch said Monday that Israeli security forces are abusing Palestinian children detained in the West Bank.

"The number of Palestinian children arrested by Israeli forces has more than doubled since October 2015. Interviews with children who have been detained, video footage, and reports from lawyers reveal that Israeli security forces are using unnecessary force in arresting and detaining children, in some cases beating them, and holding them in unsafe and abusive conditions," HRW said in a statement.

"Palestinian children are treated in ways that would terrify and traumatize an adult," Sari Bashi, Israel and Palestine country director at HRW, said. "Screams, threats, and beatings are no way for the police to treat a child or to get accurate information from them."

Since July 2015, the rights watchdog has documented nine cases of abuse of children whom Israeli security forces had detained in East Jerusalem and other parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Each reported being subjected to unnecessary force during arrest or detention or both. Moreover, all of the children reported that "police officers hit and kicked them after they were in custody. They said were made to spend hours outside in the cold in the early morning and at night, handcuffed in chairs in police compounds."

"Lawyers and human rights groups told Human Rights Watch that Israeli security forces routinely interrogate children without a parent present, violating international and domestic Israeli laws that provide special protections for detained children," HRW said.