Over 150 Palestinian kids in security jails

A Palestinian rights watchdog group says at least 151 Palestinian children are currently being held as "security prisoners" in Israeli jails, Qods News Agency reports.

The Military Court Watch said in a statement on Tuesday that 47 percent of the kids are being held inside ‘Israel’ in violation of the Geneva Conventions which prevents the transfer of detainees outside of occupied territory as it limits their families' and lawyers' abilities to visit.

The watchdog noted that figures released by Israel often fail to show the real numbers of imprisoned Palestinian children as they are based on simple "headcounts" of prisoners held at the end of each month. As a result, thoseheld in detention for hours or days other than last day of month fail to show up in the figures.

The statement comes amid growing concern over the fate of Palestinian children in Israeli jails spurred on by the case of Malak al-Khatib, a 14-year-old girl sentenced to two months in jail on risible charges of stone-throwing and possession of knife.

She was arrested while walking home from school in her village of Beitin on New Year's Eve just over a month ago.

Al-Khatib is one of only a handful of young girls among the approximately 1,000 Palestinian children arrested every year.

The image of her young face has become a common sight at protests and on posters across the West Bank.