Description

JERUSALEM (Ma'an) -- Israeli police detained two Palestinian children aged 12 and 14 from the neighborhood of Silwan in occupied East Jerusalem on Sunday afternoon.

The Wadi Hilweh Information Center said that Israeli police detained 12-year-old Muhammad Sami Odeh for allegedly throwing stones at Israeli soldiers.

The center said he was detained while he was riding his bike in Silwan and was taken to Salah al-Deen street police station.

The center said that Israeli police also detained Muhammad Haymouni,14, from Silwan, without providing further details.

An Israeli police spokesperson could not be reached for comment.

Last month, the Israeli Knesset passed into law a bill enabling harsher prison sentences for stone-throwing. The new laws makes stone-throwing punishable by up to 10 years behind bars without having to prove intent to harm or cause damage.

Human Rights Watch in July accused Israel of "abusive arrests" of Palestinian children as young as 11 and of using threats to force them to sign confessions.

Another international rights group Defense for Children International said last month that violence by Israeli forces against Palestinian child detainees has seen a rise in the first six months of this year.

According to the PLO, Israel detained 1,266 Palestinian children below the age of 15 in occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank in 2014, and over 10,000 Palestinian children have been detained by Israeli forces since 2000.