The Jerusalem Governorate has strongly condemned the Israeli occupation authorities’ decision to sentence 15-year-old Jerusalemite child Abdullah Abu Diab to four years in prison, following nearly 14 months of detention since his arrest on May 6, 2024. The governorate described the verdict as a legal and moral crime that adds to the escalating record of violations committed against children in Jerusalem since October 7, 2023.
In a statement issued on Monday, July 14, 2025, the governorate said:
"The Israeli occupation’s targeting of Jerusalemite children has become a systematic policy rather than isolated incidents. Since October 7, 2023, a total of 91 martyrs have been documented in the city of Jerusalem alone — half of them children under the age of 17 — a clear indication of the deliberate targeting of Palestinian childhood in the occupied city."
The statement further noted that during this same period, the governorate recorded approximately 161 house arrest orders issued against Jerusalemite children, forcing families to turn their homes into prisons. These children are denied their most basic rights — to education, play, or even stepping outside into their neighborhoods. In some cases, the orders have required that a parent be confined with the child inside the home, in an arbitrary and legally baseless measure that violates international norms and human rights standards.
The governorate added:
"According to our statistics, 2,464 individuals have been arrested in Jerusalem since October 7, 2023 — a significant number of them children — in blatant violation of international law, basic principles of justice, and even Israeli law itself, which prohibits actual imprisonment of children under the age of 14. Yet, the occupation routinely circumvents these laws through sham trials aimed at intimidation and collective punishment."
The Jerusalem Governorate emphasized that it is closely and professionally monitoring these violations with genuine concern, and it categorically rejects the systematic policies of arrest and repression targeting children in the city — policies that amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The governorate reiterated its urgent call to international and human rights institutions, especially the United Nations and UNICEF, to act immediately to protect Jerusalemite children and expose the occupation's practices to the world. It also urged greater legal and diplomatic efforts to hold Israel accountable for these crimes.
The statement concluded by stressing that continued international silence in the face of these grave violations, particularly those against children, serves as a cover for the occupation to persist in its crimes.