By Faruk Zorlu

ANKARA

A total of 291 Palestinians are currently in Israeli prisons, a Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) official said on Sunday.

In a statement, Hanan Ashrawi, a PLO Executive Committee member, said: "There are currently nearly 5,900 Palestinian prisoners, including 291 children in Israeli prisons."

The statement comes after teenaged Palestinian resistance icon Ahed al-Tamimi and her mother were released by Israeli authorities after an eight-month long detention.

"Israel persistently violates the rights of Palestinian political prisoners while the international community turns a blind eye to such illegal behavior and inhumane treatment," said Ashrawi.

Al-Tamimi became an international icon for Palestinian resistance after she was filmed slapping an Israeli soldier during a raid on her home to arrest her brother.

Israeli forces arrested the Palestinian girl in December 2017 after a viral video showed her slapping an Israeli soldier; later an Israeli court handed down an eight-month long sentence in March for her “attack” on an Israeli soldier.

In 2012, Istanbul’s Basaksehir Municipality had granted al-Tamimi the prestigious Hanzala Courage Award for defying Israeli soldiers after she was photographed showing her tiny fists to the occupying forces.