Tel Aviv, June 30 (RHC)-- The Israeli regime has placed 65 children in Jerusalem under house arrest in the first half of 2016.  According to the Palestinian committee for prisoners and former prisoners’ affairs, 12 other children in Jerusalem have also been detained without trial or charge under the so-called Israeli policy of administrative detention since the beginning of 2016.

The head of the committee, Issa Qaraqe, said the Israeli regime places the children under house arrest in return for their release from jail.  The Israeli forces conduct sudden raids on the children’s houses to make sure they have not broken the house arrest.

Palestinian sources say some 23 percent of the children who have been placed under house arrest suffer psychological problems and 44 percent of them have left their studies unfinished.  The committee said 440 Palestinian children are currently held in Israeli detention centers, while between 500 and 700 Palestinian children appear in Israel's military courts annually.

The committee decried Israel's systematic targeting of Palestinian children as a blatant violation of international law.