Following the publication of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office-funded, independent report into the treatment of child detainees in Israeli military custody, I understand that some progress has been made.
The UK Government has pressed Israel to take action on the findings and recommendations of the report, and has welcomed some steps that the Israeli Government has taken. These include changes to standard operating procedures on methods of restrain and the pilot to use summons instead of night-time arrests.
However, I agree that much more still needs to be done and I know that the Government has expressed concerns in a number of areas, including about the mistreatment of Palestinian detainees during arrest, transfer, interrogation and detention and about Israel’s respect of its obligations in this regard as an Occupying Power under applicable international law. The Foreign Office has raised concerns over treatment of Palestinian detainees with the Israeli authorities on many occasions, including at Foreign Minister, Attorney General and National Security Adviser levels and I am assured they will continue to do so.
