A United Nations human rights body has accused Israeli forces of mistreating Palestinian children, including by torturing those in custody and using others as human shields.
The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child said Palestinian children arrested by the Israeli military and police "are systematically subject to degrading treatment and often to acts of torture".
In a report, the body added that "children are interrogated in Hebrew, a language they did not understand, and sign confessions in Hebrew in order to be released".
The Israeli Foreign Ministry said it had responded to a report by the UN children's agency Unicef in March on ill-treatment of Palestinian minors and questioned if the UN committee's investigation covered new ground.
"If someone simply wants to magnify their political bias and political bashing of Israel not based on a new report, on work on the ground, but simply recycling old stuff, there is no importance in that," an Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman said.
The report by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child noted children on both sides of the conflict continue to be killed and wounded, but that more casualties are Palestinian.
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