children

NEW YORK — Two Democratic senators are launching an investigation into whether Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. lied to Congress about his reason for a 2019 trip to Samoa after the Associated Press and the Guardian published documents in August refuting his testimony.

The new inquiry is one of a vast array of investigations planned into the Trump administration after Democrats regained control of the House and the Senate from Republicans in the midterm elections.

Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.) said in a letter Wednesday to Children’s Health Defense, a nonprofit group known for anti-vaccine activism that was formerly chaired by Kennedy, that they were starting an investigation.

The lawmakers asked the group for a broad range of documents related to Kennedy’s Samoa travel, his 2024 presidential campaign and his Senate confirmation process. The letter also requested all communications between the group and federal government officials since President Trump’s second term began in January 2025. The senators gave the group a deadline of Dec. 4 to comply.

AP and Guardian reporting in August showed that while Kennedy repeatedly told lawmakers who held the key to his confirmation last year that his visit to Samoa before a deadly measles outbreak had “nothing to do with vaccines,” a letter he sent to the Samoan prime minister ahead of the trip on Children’s Health Defense letterhead showed otherwise. In the letter, Kennedy used the words “vaccine” or “vaccination” eight times.

“We intend to hold Secretary Kennedy accountable for the grave harm he has caused to vulnerable children,” Wyden and Alsobrooks wrote in their letter. “We also intend to hold him accountable for any false statements made to Congress, a crime that undermines the Senate’s ability to fulfill its constitutional duties.”

The Department of Health and Human Services has maintained that the Samoa visit “was unrelated to vaccines.” In response to an AP inquiry in August, it said “any claim or insinuation based on these letters that Secretary Kennedy lied under oath or to Congress is not only false but outright defamatory.”

Kennedy was not under oath during his confirmation hearing. Knowingly giving material false testimony to Congress is a crime that carries a possible prison sentence regardless of whether a person is under oath, though it is rarely prosecuted.

Spokespeople for Children’s Health Defense and HHS did not immediately respond to requests for comment Thursday.

Wyden is expected to chair the Senate Finance Committee, which has oversight into Kennedy’s health department, when Democrats retake Congress in January. Alsobrooks serves on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which also oversees the department.

The same senators on Wednesday announced a separate investigation into hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of gifts reportedly given last year to Kennedy by a donor and former employee.

Swenson writes for the Associated Press.

BBC Children In Need is back with Owain Wyn Evans embarking on his mammoth fundraiser ahead of the 2026 live show

Children In Need is one of the biggest fundraisers of the year.

And now as Owain Wyn Evans kicks off his mammoth cycle challenge for 2026, the countdown is well and truly on for this year’s big show on BBC One.

People across the country will be taking part in their own fundraisers to help boost the coffers of the appeal, which believes every child and young person deserves the opportunity to thrive and be the best they can be.

BBC Children in Need’s 1,500 local charities and projects work tirelessly throughout the UK to help children and young people overcome the additional challenges they currently face.

Among those the appeal helps are those living in poverty, providing emergency support to families in crisis, providing comfort to children feeling sad, lost and alone, helping children overcome social injustice and supporting children to feel safe and secure again.

When can I watch Children In Need 2026?

Children In Need 2026 will be broadcast on BBC One on Friday, November 13 from 7pm. The show will run for three hours when there will famous faces, dazzling performances, exclusive sketches, big surprises and Pudsey Bear, live from MediaCityUK in Salford.

The One Show Challenge Squad tackle new challenges to make a difference to other young lives and Owain Wyn Evans is live in the studio after his 400-mile four nations cycle challenge. Plus, the Children in Need choir sing a medley live to help raise money for the charity.

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Who is presenting the BBC show?

Alex Jones, Mel Giedroyc, Rylan, Sara Cox and Tyler West will team up on the night. It comes 12 months after BBC Radio 2’s Breakfast Show presenter Sara took part in her own mega challenge for the appeal when she ran five marathons in five days, raising millions and becoming a national treasure in the process.

To mark the start of this year’s campaign, several of the stars visited St Andrew’s Club in Westminster, a BBC Children in Need-funded youth project supporting children and young people in the local community.

Mel said: “BBC Children in Need has an incredible ability to bring people together to make a difference for children and young people across the UK. This year’s Appeal is all about making sure every child has someone by their side when they need it most, and everyone can play a part in that.

“Whether you take on a challenge, donate or support a fundraiser in your community, every contribution helps provide vital support and opportunities for young people. Let’s get behind BBC Children in Need and help make this year’s Appeal the biggest yet!”

Children In Need is on BBC One on Friday, November 13 at 7pm

Port Sudan, Sudan – After a two-and-a-half-hour journey from the village of al-Lalouba, Layla Ali arrived in Port Sudan to get help for her five-year-old son, Adam. His severe malnutrition had left his ribs visibly protruding beneath his skin.

He had begun to lose his appetite two weeks earlier and became too sick to move. The distance to the hospital and Ali’s fears about the cost of treatment stopped her from rushing Adam for medical treatment. But when his condition deteriorated further, Ali had no choice but to rush him to hospital.

“We spent five days in hospital while my son received treatment. He suffers from recurring bouts of malnutrition, but this time we brought him to hospital because I was afraid he might die,” Ali told Al Jazeera.

“When Adam became ill, he would stop eating. I used to give him the usual meals we prepared at home, mostly porridge and milk. But the doctors have now helped me understand which foods are appropriate for his age and the nutrients he needs.”

Adam’s condition reflects a wider crisis facing children across Sudan, where a civil war has continued since April 2023 between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary.

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) estimates that 825,000 children under five will suffer from severe acute malnutrition in 2026, a 7 percent increase from 2025.

In the first six months of this year, UNICEF and its partners treated 174,700 children with severe acute malnutrition nationwide. The Port Sudan Teaching Hospital has recorded 433 cases between January and August this year.

Maryam Gadalsid, a nutrition counsellor at the hospital, said the number of children admitted with malnutrition continues to rise, forcing medical staff to accommodate as many as possible.

But this has led to overcrowding, with three children to a single bed in the hospital’s 17-bed malnutrition unit, Gadalsid told Al Jazeera, increasing the risk of disease spreading among patients.

“Medical staff assess each child’s condition before providing essential supplies, including therapeutic milk and other nutritional supplies free of charge, with support from the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF,” Gadalsid said. “However, intravenous fluids and medication remain a significant financial burden for many families, struggling with the economic crisis caused by the war.”

Gadalsid added that inadequate nutrition among pregnant women, driven by displacement and economic hardship, was also putting their babies at risk of poor growth and malnutrition.

An increase in the numbers of flies, which can contaminate food and water, and mosquitoes, which transmit malaria, was worrying, she said. Malnourished children, in particular, are at risk of these diseases and viruses.

“With the onset of winter, malnutrition cases increase [and] … the number of flies rises, contributing to the spread of diseases that cause malnutrition,” she said.

Displaced children face worsening malnutrition

The situation is particularly bad in western Sudan’s Darfur region, which had already faced two decades of war before the 2023 nationwide conflict broke out.

Darfur has been an epicentre of the current conflict and is currently an RSF stronghold. Fighting there, combined with hunger and disease, has created an increasingly desperate situation for millions of civilians, particularly women and children.

In North Darfur alone, there were at least 40,000 cases of malnutrition between January and May 2025, according to UNICEF, when the RSF imposed a siege on the state’s capital, el-Fasher. The city was later taken by the RSF in October, and the paramilitary group is accused of killing thousands of civilians there.

Meanwhile, in Blue Nile State, southeastern Sudan, malnutrition is also taking a growing toll on displaced children.

Sabri Adam, deputy head of the committee overseeing al-Karama 3 displacement camp, which is located in the state capital al-Damazin, told Al Jazeera that cases of malnutrition had risen from 1,800 in September to 2,116 in November, accounting for more than a quarter of the camp’s children. Of those affected, 1,760 are under the age of five.

According to Adam, al-Karama 3 is home to more than 7,600 children under the age of 10, among almost 4,000 displaced families. They had fled areas in western Blue Nile State, including al-Tadamon, Bau and Kurmuk, where military operations between the SAF and the RSF have intensified.

“These families arrived at the camp in extremely difficult humanitarian conditions, amid limited funding and humanitarian assistance from organisations, and a lack of health monitoring despite the growing needs of displaced people,” he said to Al Jazeera.

Adam said the camp received cash assistance from the Red Crescent earlier this month to support people affected by malnutrition and pregnant women. Each eligible household received 620,000 Sudanese pounds (about $60 at the parallel market rate).

The situation is unfolding as the IPC warns of a growing risk of famine across parts of Greater Darfur and Greater Kordofan. Conflict, mass displacement, severe drought and inadequate humanitarian funding are driving a further deterioration in food security.

The El Nino climate phenomenon has led to reduced rainfall in Sudan during the rainy season, leading to drought that is affecting roughly half of the country.

According to the IPC, nearly two-thirds of farmland in North Darfur and roughly half in South Darfur and Kordofan states have had poor vegetation growth, threatening harvests and leaving families facing higher prices and worsening hunger.

War and poverty deepen Sudan’s malnutrition crisis

Back at the Port Sudan Teaching Hospital, Dr Ahmed Youssef, the medical director of the paediatric department, said increasing malnutrition was driven not only by the effects of war and displacement but also by limited nutrition awareness or accessibility among families, particularly in rural communities.

Many families in smaller villages across Sudan rely heavily on flour and milk as staple foods, with meat largely absent from their daily diets.

“We are working to provide families of children with malnutrition with basic nutrition education as a first step towards tackling the problem. However, we face difficulties reaching villages to deliver healthcare and raise awareness,” he told Al Jazeera.

Food contamination, particularly amid unreliable electricity supplies and a lack of refrigerators in many households, makes it difficult for families to store food safely and is also a major issue.

“Families often bring their children to hospital only when malnutrition has reached an advanced stage, either because of financial hardship and fears about treatment costs or because of limited education,” he said.

RUSSELL Brand has been found guilty of one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault following a four-week trial at Southwark Crown Court.

The disgraced former comedian, 51, was remanded in custody after the verdicts on Thursday and is due to be sentenced on Monday.

Russell Brand was found not guilty of two further counts of rape and one count of attempted indecent assault.

His wife Laura Gallacher supported him throughout the trial, while his father Ron Brand was also present at court.

Who is Russell Brand’s wife Laura Gallacher?

Laura, 39, is an author, illustrator and entrepreneur who founded The Joy Journal – a business focused on creativity and activities for families.

She is the daughter of former Ryder Cup captain Bernard Gallacher and younger sister of TV presenter Kirsty Gallacher.

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Laura and Brand first met at the Edinburgh Festival in 2006, where she attended one of his comedy shows.

They started dating but split in 2007 after she discovered he was seeing other women.

Brand went on to marry American singer Katy Perry in 2010, before the pair divorced in 2012.

He rekindled his relationship with Laura in 2015, and they married at a church near Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire in August 2017.

Laura accompanied her husband to Southwark Crown Court during his trial and gave evidence for the defence in October.

She described him as an “amazingly attentive husband” and a “wonderful father”, telling jurors: “I love him very much.”

Laura was in the public gallery when the jury returned its guilty verdicts and appeared visibly distressed as the judge told Brand he faced a significant prison term.

Who are Russell Brand’s parents?

Brand is the only child of Barbara Elizabeth Nichols and Ronald Henry Brand, known as Ron.

His parents separated when he was just six months old, leaving his mother to raise him in Grays, Essex.

Barbara suffered three bouts of cancer during Brand’s childhood, and he sometimes stayed with relatives while she underwent treatment.

The last period of treatment coincided with Brand leaving home at the age of 16.

In 2006, he told the Observer: “I loved my mum madly, but I had a lot of prohibiting, inhibiting things around. My feeling about my childhood was that it was lonely and difficult.”

His father Ron worked as a photographer and was largely absent as Brand was growing up, although they maintained contact.

Ron attended Southwark Crown Court when his son was convicted on November 5.

Speaking to the BBC following the verdicts, he said he was “bemused and shocked”.

He added: “I just didn’t expect this – it’s wrong. It’s devastating.”

How many children does Russell Brand have?

Brand and Laura have three children together – two daughters and a son.

Their eldest daughter was born in November 2016, followed by another girl in July 2018.

The couple welcomed a son in 2023, and have largely kept their kids’ lives out of the public eye.

Laura confirmed during her evidence that they were raising three children together.

Following the emergence of allegations against Brand, the family relocated to Florida in 2024.

After the guilty verdicts, Brand’s barrister Ian Winter KC asked the judge to grant bail as an “act of humanity” so he could say goodbye to his little ones.

However, the request was rejected and he was remanded in custody ahead of sentencing.

Gaza City— Mohammed Hamad, 14, was on his way home from school in Deir el-Balah on October 17 when an Israeli strike targeted the road he was travelling along.

He had finished classes at the makeshift school and was walking home through the al-Baraka neighbourhood with his 10-year-old brother, Abdullah. Mohammed was killed in the strike along with another man. Abdullah survived.

Mohammed was Riyad Hamad’s third child, an eighth-grade student among the top pupils in his class. His loss is difficult for the 44-year-old father to comprehend.

“He was not just my son, he was my friend,” Hamad told Al Jazeera from his family tent in Deir el-Balah. “He was doing so well. May God have mercy on him.”

The family has struggled to come to terms with the death of a boy whose schoolwork and achievements had been a source of pride.

“Mohammed used to ask me: ‘How am I with you?’ I swear, I never asked him for anything more,” he said.

The loss has also left a deep mark on Abdullah, who now fears losing his father, too.

“He has become very afraid of going to school. They used to go together every day and come back together. Now he cannot come to terms with having to go on his own,” Hamad said.

“We are living in fear. When I go out into the streets, I swear I am afraid. Even when I am walking or sitting in a car, my heart is filled with fear … Why should our children have to live with this constant fear and anxiety, even until the last moment?

“Enough is enough. The child is supposed to bury his father, not the father bury his child. They have turned the order of things upside down.”

The gradual return of children to school – even in makeshift classrooms and tents – had offered families in Gaza some hope of restoring a sense of normality after years of disruptions.

But Israeli air raids and sniper fire have continued, despite a ceasefire being established last October for Gaza. Since then, Israel has killed at least 1,574 Palestinians and injured 5,687 in Gaza, according to the enclave’s Ministry of Health.

The academic year resumed in Gaza on September 19, after nearly three years of disruptions caused by Israel’s war – and with it came more Israeli strikes.

Ten children aged from six to 16 and a teacher were killed between October 18 and 24. In a statement last Sunday, the Ministry of Education said that two girls were wounded during morning assembly at Muradiya School in Jabalia on October 21. Five students were also injured, some critically, in an attack on the Islamic University campus in Gaza City on Sunday.

The ministry called for urgent international action to protect students, schools and universities in Gaza.

The risks are particularly high for schools located near the so-called “Yellow Line”, a point that divided Gaza’s territory between Israeli and Palestinian control as part of the October 2025 “ceasefire” agreement. The line has moved westward to give Israel control of more than 65 percent of Gaza, according to the United Nations, up from the 53 percent agreed upon a year ago

At least 66 Palestinian children have been killed close to the Yellow Line, and pupils and teachers travelling near this zone remain in mortal danger from Israeli snipers and bombs.

On October 21, Suad Abd Rabbo, a fourth-grade student, went to school carrying her bag and books. Not long afterwards, her older sister rushed home shouting that Suad had been shot.

“I ran out barefoot,” Suad’s mother, Aliaa Abd Rabbo, recalled. “When I saw her, I was confused. I didn’t know what to do. She was bleeding, crying and screaming.”

The bullet struck Suad above the knee and lodged in a sensitive area close to her nerves and tendons. She was rushed to hospital, where doctors warned that trying to remove it could cause paralysis. They operated on Suad but were still unable to extract the bullet, which remains in her leg.

Abd Rabbo remembers when Suad came round from the anaesthesia after surgery and started reciting a passage she had been preparing for a school dictation exercise.

“‘O symbol of generosity and resilience … When I feel tired, I sit under an olive tree in the yard of our home, and feel rested after the exhaustion,” her mother recalled her saying.

Suad has since been discharged from hospital and has returned to her tent, where she remains unable to walk or move around. She needs surgery abroad to fully recover, but with Israel tightly controlling exit and entry from Gaza, her prospects of proper treatment are remote.

“Suad is now deeply frustrated. She cries and asks: ‘Why did this happen to me? Why was I targeted? What did I do?’” Abd Rabbo said.

Israeli tanks, military vehicles and cranes regularly open fire close to their tent in northern Gaza, particularly after sunset. Families often have to lie flat on the ground for hours to avoid the stray bullets that ricochet through the camp.

“My heart hurts when I send the girls to school. I told my husband I regret coming back from the south,” Abd Rabbo said about their return home to Jabalia after fleeing to Deir el-Balah during the war.

Another girl was also injured on the same day as Suad as students at Muradiya School were preparing for assembly at about 10:30am, Naim Aloush, the school’s principal, said.

“The girls had formed two lines … one suddenly screamed and fell to the ground … another girl standing nearby was struck by a bullet in her side,” she told Al Jazeera.

Teachers rushed to the girls and found that Suad had been shot while the second pupil, Amina Khader, a fifth-grade student, sustained a minor injury to her abdomen.

Aloush said the shooting sent fear through the school, with parents rushing to collect their children.

Pupils who had witnessed the incident were left terrified, and the school saw a marked increase in absenteeism in the days that followed.

The principal sees this incident as part of wider dangers facing the school in the al-Ghubari area, west of Jabalia al-Balad, consisting of 20 educational tents and serving about 1,000 pupils in the surrounding community, close to the Yellow Line.

Aloush said stray bullets or projectiles – from Israeli artillery, quadcopter drones and snipers – still regularly hit the school.

“Education is under fire, and our whole lives are under fire. At any moment, there can be gunfire. It is not light … it comes down like rain,” she told Al Jazeera.

“Every day, I come to school with my hand over my heart, afraid that one of my pupils or a member of the teaching staff might be hit.”

Amina, the other child injured along with Suad, has been left deeply traumatised by the incident, her father, Khaled Khader, said.

Khader said he rushed to the school after hearing that Amina had been injured and carried his daughter to a nearby clinic.

“There was terror, absolute terror. My daughter was in shock. She broke down, started screaming and collapsed,” Khader told Al Jazeera.

“Thank God she is safe … but the psychological impact of what happened will take years to overcome.”

Amina has since been afraid to return to school. Her family tried taking her back once, but she left early, unable to bear the sound of the gunfire.

“She is now afraid of the school itself. She keeps dreaming about her classmate lying there with blood running from her,” Khader said.

He said the incident had also left him afraid for the rest of his children and his wife, with Israeli air raids, random gunfire and shelling continuing to affect streets near the school.

“We are confused about what to do. Do we keep our children away from school and deprive them of their education, or do we send them out, knowing that they could be targeted at any moment?” Khader said. “A student needs stability to be able to learn. But we have no stability, and there are no alternatives.”

A father who shot dead a gunman at his two daughters’ school in the US state of Oregon has described “hearing children pleading for their lives” and his anguish over those he could not save.

Three students and a teacher were killed by a 16-year-old former student at Silver Rail Elementary School earlier this month. The attacker was then killed by parent Kaylub Giamanco.

“I want to apologise for not saving their babies,” Giamanco, who has been hailed as a hero, said of his thoughts for the parents of the children killed in an interview with Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB) that aired on Friday.

“The gratitude for saving people’s children is awesome, but there were ones that I didn’t save.”

Giamanco, 36, said he wanted to meet the victims’ families and “cry with them and hold them”.

He credited a teacher who fought the attacker with giving him the chance to intervene without losing his own life.

“I would love to give her a hug because that’s a real true hero,” he said.

The students who were killed were all boys, aged five, eight and 11. They were among six people in total who were shot in a classroom at the school, police said. Alongside the teacher who was also killed, another child and a teacher were wounded.

Giamanco told OPB the day of the attack began with breakfast and packed lunches. He and his wife spent extra time getting their daughters ready because it was school picture day.

The carpenter had taken lunch to work but decided to go home to eat with his wife instead. That decision brought him past the school as the attack began.

He initially wondered whether someone carrying a long gun was playing a prank. Then he saw him fire at a pickup truck and head towards the school.

Giamanco retrieved a handgun from his vehicle and called emergency services.

“I said, ‘I’m sorry, I have to go in. People are going to die,'” he told the broadcaster.

He followed the attacker, who shot through the school’s locked glass doors. Hearing children pleading for their lives and more gunfire, Giamanco crawled towards the building.

“I told myself this is probably the last thing that I’m ever going to do,” he said.

Class action could be first in Australia to blame social media for harming its users.

Meta and its social media platforms Facebook and Instagram are facing a class action lawsuit in Australia over allegations that addictive design features are harming children and teenagers.

The lawsuit, filed by MinterEllison in the Australian Federal Court, seeks to recover compensation for current and former users of Facebook and Instagram who claim they were exposed to harmful content or developed an addiction to social media as a result of using those platforms, the law firm said in a statement released on Thursday.

“This proceeding raises important questions about the design and operation of social media platforms and their impact on children and teenagers in Australia. Those questions will now be considered through the Federal Court process,” MinterEllison Partner William Nolan said in the statement.

The class action suit was filed on behalf of eight plaintiffs who allege they were harmed by Meta while they were below the age of 18.

In a suppression order on Monday, the court prohibited the reporting of any information that could reveal their identities and the statement of claim.

“We are aware of this claim and we will defend ourselves vigorously,” a Meta spokesperson said.

Litigation Lending Services said it was funding the class action for Australian families who “would have no practical means of pursuing these claims against a global technology giant”.

The lawsuit comes amid rising tensions between Australia and Big Tech after a world-first ban on social media for children below 16 in 2025, and newly proposed rules that could let users switch off algorithm-driven content on their feeds.

Meta agreed in August to pay $18bn to settle with nearly all US states to resolve claims that it designed social media to addict children.

“We are stunned and heartbroken by this senseless tragedy,” Bend-La Pine Schools Superintendent Steven Cook said in a statement.

“No words can adequately express the grief our community is experiencing.”

Local law enforcement responded to reports of an active shooter at Silver Rail Elementary in Bend, Oregon, at 12:59 local time, Bend Police Department spokeswoman Sheila Miller told reporters.

The first call indicated that an unknown suspect had shot into a car, she said. Photos released from the scene show a red truck with bullet holes.

Minutes later, the local county dispatch received a flood of 911 calls and law enforcement were sent to the scene.

The suspected shooter was shot dead at around 13:02pm, Miller said.

While police said the shooter was a local 16-year-old boy, they declined to add further details pending the ongoing investigation.

Authorities have indicated that the shooter was killed by gunfire, though details remain scant about the attack.

At least four people have been killed, including three children, in a shooting at an elementary school in Oregon, part of the northwestern United States, according to statements from law enforcement to CBS and CNN.

The shooting on Thursday took place at Silver Rail Elementary school in the city of Bend, about 160km (100 miles) southeast of Portland.

Authorities have said the shooter is dead, though it is unclear whether he is among the four people included in the initial death toll.

“We’re in the process at this time of going room by room and evacuating each of the people who are in that school,” said Sheila Miller, the communications manager for the Bend Police Department on Thursday. “This is the kind of thing we never want to see happen in Bend. It’s devastating.”

Miller said authorities received a call about a shot fired into a car outside the school at 12:59pm local time (19:59 GMT) and arrived on scene within minutes.

The suspect was shot and killed shortly after, though Miller said she did not know whether police or a bystander had subdued the alleged assailant.

The number and condition of those injured were not immediately known.

Kash Patel, the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), said in a post on social media that the agency was on the scene assisting local law enforcement in the investigation.

“We will make every resource they need available,” he wrote.

Oregon Governor Tina Kotek also said she was closely monitoring the situation.

Jeff Merkley, who represents Oregon in the US Senate, was among the political leaders to offer condolences in the wake of the shooting.

“My heart is with the Bend community and all of the students and families affected. No one should have to fear violence at school,” he wrote in a post on the social media platform X.

At least 350 Palestinian children currently face “harsh conditions” in Israeli prisons.

Israeli forces have detained more than 2,000 Palestinian children since October 2023, the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society said.

In a report released on Wednesday, the Palestinian rights group said Israeli authorities continue to escalate their targeting of Palestinian children. At least 350 Palestinian children are currently facing “harsh conditions” in Israeli prisons.

On Tuesday, Israeli forces arrested at least six children from Hebron in the occupied West Bank, the report said.

The organisation said information regarding the number of children arrested in Gaza is unclear, given the thousands of missing persons in the besieged Gaza Strip, including children, and the ongoing policy of enforced disappearance.

The group said Israel’s policy of detention without charges or a release date constitutes “an additional violation and crime that leaves children facing the unknown and deprives them of family and educational stability”.

Cases of Palestinian children in prison

The report described Israeli practices that begin with “intimidation and arrest” and extend to “torture, starvation and denial of healthcare”.

The group highlighted the case of 15-year-old Mohammed Hamid, who contracted scabies, a contagious skin infestation, while he was detained in Ofer Prison, where rights groups have long documented abuses. He suffered severe infections, underwent heart surgery and was admitted to intensive care in critical condition. He subsequently had one of his legs amputated.

The organisation also highlighted the case of 17-year-old Walid Ahmed, who died in March 2025 after six months in Megiddo Prison. In December, an Israeli judge halted the investigation into his death, stating that although there was evidence of starvation, no definitive cause of death had been established.

American children in Israeli prisons

Ahmed was imprisoned in Megiddo with his friend Mohammed Ibrahim, a teenager from Florida. Ibrahim was released after months of advocacy from US-based organisations and appeals from high-ranking lawmakers.

Mohammed Ibrahim was not the only young American held in Israeli prison without charge – Israeli forces reportedly took Abdalkareem Issa Ahmed Safi from his West Bank home in a late-night raid in June. He turned 18 in detention, and authorities subsequently moved him from a youth holding area into an adult section at Ofer Prison.

Similarly, Israeli forces arrested 16-year-old Adam Wajeh Abdelfattah Karakrah, also an American, in July. Although he was set for release in August after his family secured bail, Israeli authorities abruptly reversed the decision to free him.

The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society called for “real international action” to ensure the release of arbitrarily detained children, enforce investigations and end torture, starvation and the denial of treatment in Israeli prisons.

Israeli forces have detained more than 25,000 Palestinians in the West Bank, and thousands more in Gaza, since Israel’s genocidal war began in October 2023.