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Three Palestinian minors killed, 52 others detained so far this year: Ministry

Palestinian mourners carry the body of Amir Abu Musaid, 16, during his funeral in the al-Maghazi refugee camp, located in the center of the Gaza Strip, after he was shot dead in clashes with the Israeli military along the Gaza border the previous day, on January 12, 2018. (Photo by AFP)

The Information Ministry of the Palestinian National Authority says Israeli military forces have killed three Palestinian minors and arrested 52 others since the beginning of the current year amid simmering tensions in the occupied territories over US President Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem al-Quds as the "capital" of Israel.

The ministry, in a statement released on Sunday, accused Israeli authorities of “escalating assaults against Palestinian children.”

It said Israeli attacks have sharply risen since the US president’s controversial move.

On December 6, 2017, Trump announced his decision to recognize Jerusalem al-Quds as Israel’s capital and relocate the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to the occupied city.

The dramatic shift in Washington’s policy vis-à-vis the city triggered demonstrations in the occupied Palestinian territories, Iran, Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, Tunisia, Algeria, Iraq, Morocco and other Muslim countries.

A Palestinian sheikh mourns over the body of Ali Omar Qino, 16, during his funeral in the village of Burin, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, on January 12, 2018. (Photo by AFP)

On December 21, the United Nations General Assembly overwhelmingly voted in favor of a resolution that calls on the US to withdraw its controversial recognition of Jerusalem al-Quds as Israeli “capital.”

In an attempt to prevent the adoption of the resolution, Trump had warned that “we’re watching,” threatening reprisals against countries that backed the measure, which earlier faced a US veto at the UN Security Council.

Israel, however, rejected the world body’s resolution while thanking Trump for his decision to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem al-Quds.

Israeli soldiers detain a Palestinian youth during clashes east of the occupied West Bank village of Salem near the Jewish settlement of Elon Moreh on January 7, 2018. (Photo by AFP)

Jerusalem al-Quds remains at the core of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with Palestinians hoping that the eastern part of the city would eventually serve as the capital of a future independent Palestinian state.

More than 7,000 Palestinians are reportedly held at Israeli jails. Hundreds of the inmates have apparently been incarcerated under the practice of administrative detention, a policy under which Palestinian inmates are kept in Israeli detention facilities without trial or charge.

Some Palestinian prisoners have been held in administrative detention for up to eleven years. Palestinian inmates regularly stage hunger strikes in protest at the administrative detention policy and their harsh prison conditions in Israeli jails.


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