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Photo:
Aida refugee camp entrance. File. Published by Maan News
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BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) – An Israeli military court Thursday extended the detention of seven Palestinian minors, aged between 16 and 17 years old, from Bethlehem’s Aida refugee camp in the occupied West Bank for “endangering the lives of Jewish worshippers” after reportedly throwing Molotov cocktails near Rachel’s Tomb at the northern entrance of Bethlehem.

Three of the minors were detained on Wednesday, following confessions from four minors detained in the previous week, according to Israeli sources.

Israeli sources also claimed that all seven minors confessed to throwing the Molotov cocktails and reportedly told Israeli authorities they learned how to make the cocktails from online videos, while admitting to buying the materials from shops before gathering every Friday near Rachel’s Tomb to throw rocks and Molotov cocktails at Israeli settlers.

Clashes often erupt between Palestinians and Israeli soldiers, especially during Jewish pilgrimages to Rachel’s Tomb, as such visits typically occur alongside a heightened Israeli military presence near the entrance of Bethlehem and severe restrictions on Palestinian movement.

The area around Rachel’s Tomb was also the site of near daily clashes for several months between Israeli soldiers and Palestinians when a wave of violence erupted across the Palestinian territory and Israel last October.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian Committee of Prisoners' Affairs said in September that at least 1,000 Palestinian minors between the ages of 11 and 18 had been detained by Israel since January, including around 70 children from occupied East Jerusalem who were placed under house arrest.

A lawyer for the Committee, Hiba Masalha, cited at the time a number of cases in which Palestinian minors were abused and tortured while in detention.

Interrogations of Palestinian children can last up to 90 days according to prisoners’ rights group Addameer, during which in addition to being beaten and threatened, cases of sexual assault and placement in solitary confinement to elicit confessions are also often reported, while confession documents they are forced to sign are in Hebrew -- a language most Palestinian children do not speak.