Military Court Watch (MCW) said on Friday that up to 77 per cent of the Palestinian children abducted by Israeli occupation forces in 2017 were blindfolded.
In a report, the NGO pointed out to a UNICEF report issued in 2013, which concluded that “the ill-treatment of children who come in contact with the military abduction appears to be widespread, systematic and institutionalised.”
The NGO added: “One of the contributing factors for this conclusion was that almost every child abducted by the Israeli military in the West Bank was blindfolded when he was abducted and remained blindfolded for many hours.”
So that, the UNICEF recommended that “the practice of blindfolding or hooding children should be prohibited in all circumstances.”
As of October 2017, 77 per cent of abducted children continue to report being blindfolded by the military in the occupied West Bank compared with 81 per cent in 2013.
While there are no compelling security reasons for blindfolding children, the practice appears to psychologically weaken abductees prior to interrogation making them more compliant.
Meanwhile, rights groups have several times reported that the Israeli occupation forces harshly beat the Palestinian children when they abduct them.
Abducted Palestinian children, the rights groups said, always locked up in unknown whereabouts for long hours and sometimes for days.
Several Palestinian children suffered different forms sicknesses after they were released from the Israeli abduction.
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