Reform of Israel's military court system in the occupied West Bank has failed to stop "systematic violation" of Palestinian minors' rights, an Israeli NGO said yesterday.

Human rights group B'Tselem said that the 2009 launch of a designated military juvenile court with the stated aim of "improving the protection of minors' rights" had failed to deliver.

It said that introduction of the juvenile court rather resulted in only "technical changes (which) have not improved the protection of minors' rights."

It gave as an example the goal of shortening the length of time that minors are held in custody while awaiting trial.

In practice, it says, this has generated a greater frequency of remand hearings but the military judges "almost always" grant prosecution requests to extend custody.

"The changes introduced to the military justice system... are superficial, and affect nothing more than form," the report says, citing studies by United Nations children's agency Unicef and Defence for Children International, among others.

"The reports all point to the same factual findings which demonstrate that minors' rights are regularly and systematically violated."

A Unicef report last year cited affidavits taken from 165 West Bank children held by Israel in 2016, saying that all had been subjected to ill treatment or breaches of due process, including not being properly advised of their rights.

Many reported "verbal abuse and intimidation during arrest, transfer, interrogation and/or detention," Unicef said.