UN calls on Israel to release Palestinian children from jails amid coronavirus

May 12, 2020

Three United Nations officials have called on Israel’s government to release imprisoned Palestinian children amid the global coronavirus pandemic.

Some 194 children are currently in detention in Israeli jails, the officials said in a statement released by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs today.

Most of the children are being held in pretrial detention, according to the UN officials, even though legal proceedings have paused due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Children in detention face heightened risk of contracting COVID-19, with physical distancing and other preventive measures often absent or difficult to achieve,” the statement read.

“Moreover, since the start of the COVID-19 crisis in Israel, legal proceedings are on hold, almost all prison visits are cancelled, and children are denied in-person access to their families and their lawyers.”