What Palestinian children endure in Israeli detention

Every morning, Fidaa Zalabani checks the room of her 17-year-old son, Mohammed, in the Shu’fat refugee camp in occupied East Jerusalem, arranging clothes that remain untouched by the end of day.

Mohammed hasn’t set foot in his room since Israeli forces arrested him more than three years ago, but his mother repeats the same routine every morning.

He was arrested in February 2023 at the age of 13, accused of stabbing a soldier on a bus at a checkpoint at the Shu’fat refugee camp, two weeks after he saw his teenage friend killed by an Israeli soldier.

During the incident, a security guard opened fire, accidentally shooting the Israeli soldier who had been stabbed, who later died. Mohammed was subsequently sentenced to 18 years in prison, accused of causing the death.

For about two years, Fidaa said she has not been allowed to visit her son at Megiddo Prison in northern Israel, leaving her deeply concerned about his health. She also believes Mohammed and other child detainees have been subjected to beatings and other forms of mistreatment.

“The lawyer told us during several visits that the child detainees there go to sleep hungry most days; the guards allow no more than four loaves of bread for 13 prisoners, a situation that kept me awake worried about his condition,” she told Al Jazeera.

In September 2025, the Israeli Supreme Court found that the Israeli Prison Service has failed to provide Palestinian prisoners with adequate food – although the prison service, which is overseen by far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir – has rejected allegations of starvation.

Fidaa said Megiddo Prison had only recently begun allowing child detainees to bathe more than once a week, a privilege previously denied for more than two years. She said scabies and other skin diseases had spread among detainees amid overcrowding and poor sanitation.