More than 800,000 Palestinians have been arrested since Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian Territories began in 1967, including children as young as 12, a UN Human Rights Council expert said Monday.

Francesca Albanese, special rapporteur who reports to the Council on the human rights situation in the Palestinian Territories, pointed out that Israel is treating the occupied territories like an open-air prison.

“Under Israeli occupation, generations of Palestinians have suffered widespread and systematic arbitrary deprivation of their freedom,” her report points out.

He emphasizes that he does not approve of violence from the Palestinian side, however he notes that most of the condemnations of Palestinians are intertwined with violations of international law by the Israeli side.

Many are convicted without evidence, arrested without warrants, detained without charge or brought to trial, and subjected to brutal treatment in the custody of Israeli authorities, the text says.

It calls on the international community not to recognize or support Israeli settlements in the occupied territories, which are illegal under international law, and to ensure that those responsible for violations are held accountable.

In late June, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights updated its database of the names of construction companies involved in settlement building. The list contains names of mainly Israeli companies, but it also includes some from the US, Britain, the Netherlands, France, Spain and Luxembourg.

Israel consistently rejects criticisms of the situation in the Palestinian territories by UN experts, calling them unilateral and biased. Last year, Israel’s foreign ministry called a previous report on the occupation part of a “UN Human Rights Council witch hunt against Israel.”