Queen Rania Condemns Israeli Military Detention of Palestinian Children

Queen Rania Al Abdullah has condemned the Israeli military detention of Palestinian children, highlighting the “horrific conditions” experienced by children held in Israeli prisons.اضافة اعلان

She made the remarks on Tuesday during a high-level dialogue titled “Childhood in Detention: A High-Level Dialogue on the Military Detention of Palestinian Children,” held at the United Nations headquarters in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meetings.

Queen Rania said Palestinian children have described a “familiar and horrifying pattern” that begins with them being taken from their homes in the middle of the night, without knowing where they are being taken or why they are being detained. They are then brought before military courts and subjected to assault, isolation, starvation and threats of rape, according to their testimonies.

In her remarks, Queen Rania stressed that these practices are not limited to individual cases, but are linked to a political, legal and security system. She asked: “What is it about Palestinian children that inspires all this terror?”

She referred to what she described as decades of Palestinian children being detained and denied due process, saying it is difficult to imagine a child being taken from their home at gunpoint and brought to a place their parents cannot access.

Addressing the horrific conditions of detention, Queen Rania cited the findings of an independent UN commission of inquiry, which concluded that Palestinian children had been subjected to torture while detained by Israel. She recalled the case of Palestinian teenager Walid Ahmad, who died in March 2025 after spending nearly six months in Israeli detention.

Although an autopsy found that he had been subjected to starvation, an Israeli judge closed the investigation into his death. Queen Rania said Israel continues to hold his body, describing him as a “prisoner even after his death.”

During her speech, Queen Rania also conveyed a message from a Palestinian young man who said he was arrested at the age of 15. His message read: “We need help from everyone who can help us. The world must know what we are being subjected to, and the suffering we are going through.” She concluded her message to the audience and the world by saying: “Now, you know.”

The dialogue was organized by Save the Children and co-hosted by Jordan, Ireland, Palestine, Spain and South Africa.

It was attended by a number of officials and representatives of governments, the United Nations, and humanitarian and human rights organizations. The event also featured testimony from a former Palestinian child detainee, who described the lasting impact of detention.

Save the Children International CEO Inger Ashing presented findings from an organization survey of formerly detained Palestinian children.

According to the survey, 99% of participants reported being subjected to assault, 82% said they had been forcibly stripped of their clothes, and more than half said they had witnessed or experienced sexual violence. More than 70% reported feeling sad most or all of the time, while 45% did not return to school after their release.