AhlulBayt News Agency - The number of Palestinian children held in Israeli prisons has soared over the past six months, including a growing number of girls.
There were 438 Palestinian minors imprisoned in February 2016, up from 170 last September, according to Israel Prison Service figures quoted by Israeli daily Haaretz.
The figures came out as a 12-year-old Palestinian girl was released from prison on Sunday, the youngest female ever incarcerated in Israel.
The Israeli occupation authorities (IOA) at noontime on Sunday released the youngest Palestinian detainee Dima al-Wawi, 12, after two months and a half in jail.
Dima al-Wawi was released at the Jabara military checkpoint in Tulkarem, in the northern occupied West Bank, where she was received by her family and dozens of Palestinian citizens.
Al-Wawi was also received by the head of the prisoners’ and ex-prisoners’ committee, Issa Qaraqe, and Tulkarem Mayor Essam Abu Bakr.
12-year-old Dima al-Wawi, a native of al-Khalil’s northern town of Halhul, was kidnapped by the Israeli occupation forces on February 9 on her way to school. She was accused of holding a knife and attempting to carry out an anti-occupation stabbing against Israeli soldiers.
An Israeli court sentenced the child to four months in jail and a fine of 2,500 U.S. dollars.
According to the prison report, in February five children in jail were under 14, while seven were detained without charges.
It also showed an increasing number of young girls sent to jail. In February 2016, 12 girls were behind bars, compared to just one in September 2015.
The majority of the minors held – 106 of the 438 – came from the volatile city of Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, while 104 came from occupied East Jerusalem. Eighty six children came from Ramallah.
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