Administrative detention on minors steadily increasing

Israeli human rights group B’Tselem released a report Thursday evening revealing that Israeli authorities have steadily increased their use of administrative detention -- internment without charge or trial -- on Palestinian minors since October.

The group stated in the report that the controversial policy that allows for the detention of Palestinians without charge or trial based on undisclosed evidence had not been used by Israeli authorities on Palestinian minors since December 2011.

However, the group found that Israeli authorities had begun to use the policy again on Palestinian minors as of October when a wave of violence first erupted across the occupied Palestinian territory and Israel.

According to figures sent to the group by Israel Prison Service (IPS), the group found that the number of Palestinian minors held without charge or trial in Israeli prisons rose steadily from October, with four minors held in administrative detention in October 2015 and 13 reportedly held at the end of April this year.

The group said that eight minors were being held in administrative detention at the end of June, but the group has not yet obtained data for the month of May.

The report added that the increasing use of administrative detention on Palestinians, particularly relating to Palestinian minors, has constituted a much "harsher abuse" of the policy than what has been seen in recent years.