In a statement on the International Day for the Protection of Children, which marks June 1, the Ministry documented the killing of up to 3,090 Palestinian children by the Israeli occupation army since the Second (al-Aqsa) Intifada in 2000.

Since the US President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of the zionist occupation regime on December 6, 2017 and until the end of 2019, zionist occupation gangs have killed 114 Palestinian children, wounded thousands of others, and detained more than 17,000 children, the statement added.

Over the past year and a half, the zionist occupation military arrested 745 Palestinian children under the age of 18.  

As 170 Palestinian children are still imprisoned in israeli jails, zionist occupation gangs detained 264 Palestinian children in the first quarter of this year, the statement pointed out, citing data issued by human rights groups.

Some 95 per cent of Palestinian children are tortured and abused by zionist occupation gangs during their arrest, which is usually carried out after midnight, the statement explained. 

The zionist occupation gangs detains every year nearly 700-1000 Palestinian children in raids throughout all Palestinian cities and towns.

Since the start of October 2015, Israeli occupation forces have intensified their arrests of Palestinian children, detaining about 2,000 children by November 2016.

The statement noted that Palestinian children are also living in severe poverty, aggravated by the 14-year crippling israeli siege on the Gaza Strip, prompting many of them to drop out of school to work.