Ramallah, January 3 (RHC)-- The number of Palestinians arrested by Israeli forces since U.S. President Donald Trump 'recognized' Jerusalem as the capital of Israel last month has risen to 610, including 170 children and 12 women, the Palestinian Prisoner's Society (PPS) reports.  At least 6,831 Palestinians were already being held in Israeli custody, including 331 children, according to Israeli human-rights organization B'Tselem.  The latest arrests bring the total number of Palestinian prisoners to 7,441.   

Trump's Jerusalem declaration sparked outrage across the world. Palestinians across the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem have since mobilized to defend al-Quds, as Jerusalem is known in the Muslim and Arab world, as the capital of a future Palestinian state.  Israel's forceful response to the demonstrations has left at least 12 Palestinians dead so far, along with thousands more injured and hundreds arrested. 

Many Palestinians, including children, have been detained in overnight raids that are becoming an all-too-common occurrence in Palestinian towns and villages through the occupied territory, including East Jerusalem.   Even before the tensions caused by the U.S. declaration, children in East Jerusalem had been targeted by Israeli forces and subjected to house raids. 

Human rights organizations B'Tselem, Adameer, Defender for Children International and others report that child arrests and the abuses that follow have become systematic.