Occupation routine: Soldiers invade three homes in Kafr Qadum, beat inhabitants and arrest one

25 August 2021

המהפכה שהותירו החיילים במטבח של אימאן וחיכמת שתיווי בכפר קדום. התמונה באדיבות המשפחה

On Tuesday, 1 June 2021, at around 1:30 A.M., dozens of soldiers and ISA agents invaded the Shteiwi family’s home in Kafr Qadum. They woke Bashar Shteiwi (29), who was sleeping on the balcony that night, and then the rest of the family – his mother Rashiqah (68) and his four brothers and sisters who were sleeping indoors.

The soldiers separated Bashar from his family and violently interrogated him, beating him repeatedly, just moments after he had woken up. They searched the entire house and after about an hour and a half, led Bashar to the home of his cousin ‘Abdallah, who lives nearby with his mother. There, the soldiers conducted another search, throwing the family’s personal belongings on the floor. During the search, they interrogated Bashar again in the living room. About half an hour later, they led Bashar about 400 meters away to the home of his brother Hikmat (47), a father of five.

Several soldiers had entered Himkat’s home earlier, and when Bashar arrived, the search and interrogation were already in progress: the family’s belongings were strewn on the floor and the living room furniture was overturned. Hikmat’s wife, Iman, and their three youngest children were being held in the parents’ bedroom. Their two other children – Tareq (17) and Malek (16) – were held, handcuffed, in separate room. Bashar was put in the room with Malek, while Tareq was beaten and interrogated.

At around 4:30 A.M., the soldiers left the village, taking Bashar with them. In the morning, he was taken to the police station in the settlement of Ariel for interrogation. He was then held in custody for two weeks before being released. On 30 June 2021, soldiers returned to Kafr Qadum and arrested Bashar again, along with his brother Muhammad. Bashar was released on 9 August 2021 after being convicted, in a plea bargain, of throwing objects at people. He was sentenced to prison for a period of time already served in custody, and to an NIS 1,000 (~USD 310) fine. His brother is still in custody.

Military incursions into Palestinians’ homes in the dead of night, in which soldiers wake entire families, including small children and infants, have long since become part of the routine that the occupation regime imposes in the West Bank. The troops enter bedrooms, rummage through the inhabitants’ private belongings, at times beating some of them, and leave the entire household stunned and terrified. This harmful invasion into what is supposed to be a personal, safe space is yet another example of Israel’s policy, which views Palestinians as subjects devoid of rights.

Testimonies concerning the incident were given to B’Tselem field researcher Abdulkarim Sadi.

In his testimony, Bashar Shteiwi (29) described what happened that night:

On 1 June 2021, I was sleeping on our balcony on the second floor. At around 1:30 A.M., I woke up to find soldiers standing next to me. They kicked me and hit me. I heard a soldier say, “Here’s Bashar. Here’s Bashar.” One of the soldiers lifted me violently off the floor and pushed me indoors. He immediately started asking me if I had a weapon. I told him I didn’t, but he kept asking me where I was keeping it. I told him he could search the house and that if he found a weapon, I would take responsibility for it.

A few minutes later, the soldiers took me down to an apartment on the first floor and tied my hands. It’s an empty apartment that’s meant for my brother Muhammad. The soldier or officer who interrogated me saw a walking stick there that used to belong to my late father. He took it and beat me with it, swearing at me and asking where I was hiding the weapon. Meanwhile, the other soldiers inspected the walls with special devices and searched the entire house, on both floors.

After about an hour and a half, one of the soldiers told me that he was taking me to my cousin ‘Abdallah Shteiwi’s house. It’s right next door. When we got there, the soldiers sat me down in the living room and searched the whole house. After half an hour, they led me, still handcuffed, to my brother Hikmat’s house, which is 400 meters away from ours. While we were walking, the soldiers kept pushing me.

When we got there, I saw there were soldiers inside. When we went inside, I saw that they were searching the living room. The kitchen utensils were strewn all over the floor and tables. I saw my nephew Tareq lying on the living room floor, handcuffed and blindfolded. The soldiers took me to my brother’s bedroom, where I saw my nephew Malek. My brother, his wife and their young children were in their daughter Shahd’s room.

I tried to cheer Malek up and talk to him, but the soldiers shouted at me and ordered me to be quiet. Then another soldier came in and told me that Tareq had said I have a weapon. I told him I don’t and that I don’t need one, and then the soldiers started punching me in my upper body.

After about half an hour, the ISA officer told me I was under arrest. He said I would go to prison for a year or a year and a half. The soldiers took me outside, handcuffed, and led me on foot to the settlement of Kedumim, which is about a kilometer away. At Kedumim, they blindfolded me and put me in a jeep that drove me to a military camp in Shavei Shomron. I stayed there until 11:00 A.M., and then I was transferred to the Ariel police station. A police interrogator questioned me about possessing weapons, but I told him I didn’t have any and that the soldiers had searched my house and found nothing. The interrogation ended in the afternoon, and from there I was taken into custody. I was released two weeks later, on 15 June 2021.

המהפכה שהותירו החיילים בביתה של אימתית'אל שתיווי. התמונה באדיבות המשפחה

Imtithal Shteiwi (58), the widow of Bashar’s uncle, recounted the soldiers’ incursion into her home:

On Tuesday, at around 3:00 A.M., I was woken by the sound of the phone ringing. They were calling from my brother-in-law’s house to tell us that soldiers had come in and that some of them were in our shared yard. I put my headscarf on right away. I sat down in the living room with my son ‘Abdallah, and we waited for the soldiers to come in.

About half an hour later, seven or eight soldiers knocked on the door. ‘Abdallah opened it and they came inside, leading my husband’s nephew, Bashar, into the living room. They demanded that ‘Abdallah hand them his ID card and then ordered us to sit in the living room. Several soldiers went into my bedroom and searched it. Meanwhile, I heard them shouting at Bashar and threatening him. They asked him about weapons and incitement materials.

After half an hour, they left with Bashar. There were clothes and belongings strewn all over the bedroom floor. I immediately started tidying up and putting everything back in place.

The glass door the soldiers smashed in Iman and Hikmat Shteiwi’s home. Photo courtesy of the family

In her testimony, Bashar’s sister-in-law, Iman Shteiwi (44), described the raid on her home:

That night, the whole family was sleeping at home: my husband Hikmat and I, and our five children – Tareq (17), Malek (16), Shahd (13), Mahmoud (11) and Muhammad (9). At around 2:00 A.M., I woke up in a fright. I heard shouting and hammers pounding on our front door. Hikmat told me it was soldiers. I got up right away and quickly got dressed. I ran to the children, who were awake and terrified. My husband went to open the door. He told the soldiers that he was coming and they should stop pounding on it, but they kept yelling and banging until he opened it. We all stood at the entrance and the little ones were terrified and crying. I hugged them and tried to calm them down, even though I was frightened myself.

The soldiers ordered my husband and me to take the three little ones to my daughter Shahd’s bedroom, and kept Tareq and Malek with them. While we were in the room, I heard the soldiers shouting at my sons. I heard Tareq tell them: “We don’t have any incitement materials or weapons.”

In his testimony, Basher’s nephew, Tareq Shteiwi (17), recalled:

I stayed in the living room with the soldiers. They tied my hands behind my back and blindfolded me with a piece of cloth. Then they knocked me to the floor and stepped all over my body, including my head. They hit me and asked me if there were any weapons in the house. I told them there weren’t and that we don’t need any. One of the soldiers also asked if I take part in the weekly march in the village, and I said I don’t. They kept on stepping on me and beating me for a few minutes.

Then one of the soldiers lifted me up and led me to the living room. There, a soldier threw me down on the floor, sat on my stomach and punched me in the chest, shoulders and head. He demanded that I admit we have weapons and participate in the weekly march

Then the soldier who attacked me told me that they were bringing in my uncle Bashar. The soldiers shouted at him, and I heard him answering their questions and telling them that he didn’t have any kind of weapon.

In her testimony, Rashiqah Shteiwi (68), Bashar and Muhammad’s mother, described her sons’ arrest later that month:

On Tuesday, 29 June 2021, at around 11:00 P.M., I fell and broke my right hand. My sons ‘Aqel and Samed took me to hospital in Qalqiliyah. I was treated and we got back home at around 2:00 A.M.

When we got back, ‘Aqel went to sleep at his house with his wife and kids. Samed, who lives with me, went straight to bed. At around 3:00 A.M., my daughters and I were still awake. Suddenly, we heard loud, aggressive banging on the front door. We knew it was soldiers. Hanan got up quickly and opened the door so the soldiers wouldn’t break it down. Seven or eight soldiers swarmed in and immediately woke my sons Samer and Bashar. I heard one of the soldiers demand that they hand him their phones, and heard Bashar tell the soldier that his phone had been confiscated when he was arrested at the beginning of the month and hadn’t been given back to him.

The soldiers searched the entire house. The girls and I stayed in my bedroom and the soldiers took the boys to other rooms. I couldn’t see them, but I heard the soldiers yelling at them. After five or ten minutes, I heard the soldiers talking to Muhammad, who had been sleeping on the first floor that night. I heard one soldier demand that Muhammad give him his phone, and heard Muhammad reply that he doesn’t have one. The soldier brought Muhammad into the room we were in and said to him, “I’m sure you love your mother and wouldn’t want the soldiers to start rummaging through her house and destroying the furniture.” Just then, more soldiers arrived and brought Muhammad’s phone with them. One of them demanded that Muhammad unlock his phone so he could search it, but Muhammad said it was private and that the soldier should respect his privacy. The soldiers took Muhammad out of the room, and then I heard Muhammad and Bashar shouting. It sounded like the soldiers were beating them. After about an hour, the soldiers left, taking Muhammad and Bashar with them. After they left, we saw that they had torn up the upholstery of pieces of furniture and broken five wooden doors in the house.

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אמבולנסים ליד מתחם המגורים של המשפחה בליל האירוע. התמונה באדיבות המשפחה

A Routine Founded on Violence

Soldiers hold 21 members of Palestinian family, 7 of them minors, in storeroom, and attack and beat some of them; six spend night in hospital, one remains in custody

On Sunday, 12 December 2021, at around 1:00 A.M., soldiers knocked on the door of the apartment in which Mahmoud (57) and Nidaa (55) Salhab live with their four children in the neighborhood of Khirbet Qalqas in Hebron. When Mahmoud opened the door, about 20 soldiers came in and demanded to know the whereabouts of his son Anas (24), a student at Hebron University. They then locked Anas in his room on the ground floor of the building and led Mahmoud and three of his children to an adjacent storeroom. Soldiers surrounding the building led other family members who live in the compound to the storeroom, until they were holding 21 of them, including seven minors, in the room along with 10 soldiers guarding them. From the storeroom, the family could hear Anas shouting as the soldiers beat him in the adjacent room. When his brother Ibrahim (16) tried to protest what was happening, the soldiers attacked and beat him, too. In the ensuing argument, soldiers dragged Anas’ cousin, Osama Salhab (24), along the storeroom floor, causing his head to bang into an empty aquarium, which shattered and injured him. The soldiers called a military ambulance that took him to Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba. At around 2:30 A.M., the soldiers left, taking Anas with them, handcuffed and blindfolded. They drove him around for several hours until they arrived at the Etzion Detention Center at around 8:30 A.M. At the center, he was held inside a military jeep until noon. Throughout the entire time, Anas was not given food, water or access to a toilet. He was then taken into a conversation with an ISA officer, who warned him not to participate in Hamas activities marking the movement’s anniversary. The talk lasted less than an hour, after which he was released and sent home with other students who had been called in for a similar warning. After the soldiers left, five family members were taken to the 'Alia Governmental Hospital in Hebron. Three of them were diagnosed with bruises, and two were in shock. At around 5:00 A.M., they were discharged. Osama Salhab was discharged the following day, and then arrested and charged with assaulting soldiers that night. In the dead of night, dozens of soldiers entered a compound in Hebron that is home to about 30 people. They woke the occupants, held most of them in a storeroom and attacked some of them. The result: six members of the family were taken to hospital and two detained – one of them to date. This is incident is not exceptional; it is part of the intolerable routine that the Israeli apartheid regime imposes on Palestinians in the West Bank. B'Tselem field researchers Manal al-Ja'bari and Musa Abu Hashhash collected the following testimonies from members of the Salhab family, who described their nightmarish experience: In a testimony he gave on the day of the incident, one of the brothers living in the compound, Ahmad Salhab (52), a father of four, recounted: On 12 December 2021, at around 1:00 A.M., I was woken by noises and shouting coming from my brother Mahmoud's house. I quickly went outside and my son Osama followed me. We found soldiers there and they led us to a storeroom on the ground floor of Mahmoud's house. My brother Muhammad and his son Nur a-Din (23) were already there with more than 10 soldiers, including an officer. Some of the soldiers were attacking Muhammad's son Ibrahim. Meanwhile, the soldiers brought in my niece Mariam (20), who is Mahmoud’s daughter, and my nephew Salah a-Din (19), who is Muhammad's son. They also brought in my son Amjad (27). We got into an argument with the soldiers, who pushed us and ordered us to sit still on the floor while they continued attacking Ibrahim. The argument turned into a scuffle and then some soldiers jumped my son Osama, punched him, beat him with their rifle butts and kicked him. Muhammad and I tried to wrestle Osama from their hands. They pushed us. Some of them attacked Muhammad, and other soldiers continued beating Osama. They dragged him to the corner of the storeroom, where an aquarium crashed down on his head. I saw Osama lying on the floor, motionless. I saw he was severely injured and even thought he might be dead. The soldiers dragged him outside, and I followed them. Meanwhile, two Palestinian ambulances arrived, and the paramedics put Osama in one of them and gave him first aid. Before the ambulance left, the officer ordered them to transfer Osama to a military ambulance. I heard one of the soldiers say he was going to be taken to Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba. Osama’s head was bleeding and his face was covered in blood. After he was taken away, the soldiers led Anas to a jeep that was parked nearby and drove off with him. My back and left arm were hurting from the soldiers' beating, but I didn't need treatment. My brother Muhammad, my nephew Ibrahim and my son Amjad were taken in the two ambulances to the 'Alia Governmental Hospital in Hebron. A relative also drove my nieces Mariam and Asmaa (17), Muhammad's daughters, to the hospital because they were in shock. Everyone got back from the hospital at around 6:00 A.M. Muhammad, Amjad and Ibrahim had bruises on various parts of their bodies. In the morning, I went to the police station at Kiryat Arba after my relative, who visited Osama at Soroka Medical Center, said he had been transferred there. When I got there, an interrogator took a statement from me about what happened and only then let me see my son. Osama was sitting on a chair and couldn't move. His head was bandaged and his face was wounded. The police officers told me they were transferring him to the detention center at Etzion. In a testimony he gave on the day of the incident, Ibrahim Salhab (16), Mahmoud and Nidaa's son and Anas's brother, said: I was woken by loud banging on our door. I got up quickly and went towards the door. I saw my father open it. Several soldiers came in and asked my father about my older brother Anas. When they saw me, they led me to a storeroom on the ground floor of our house. A few minutes later, they brought my uncle Muhammad and his sons in, and later they also brought my uncle Ahmad and his sons in, as well as other members of the family. The officer ordered me to sit on the floor. I didn't do immediately as he said and asked the officer what I was supposed to sit on. Then he and about 10 other soldiers attacked me. They punched me, beat me with their rifle butts, kicked me and then knocked me down. I kept shouting and asking them to stop hitting me. I asked what I'd done to them. They just told me to shut up and kept beating me. My uncle Muhmmad tried to free me from their hands, and they pushed him and made him sit on the floor. After they stopped beating my uncle and me, the officer and the soldiers moved on to my cousin Osama and attacked him. They knocked him down and dragged him to a corner of the storeroom, and then an aquarium that was standing on a small table fell on him. Osama started bleeding. His head and face were covered in blood and he stopped moving. Everyone in the storeroom started shouting, and a scuffle broke out between my uncles and the soldiers. The soldiers dragged Osama out, and my uncle Ahmad went out after them. All the other soldiers followed him outside. Ahmad came back and told us they'd taken Osama to Soroka Medical Center in an Israeli ambulance. I was exhausted and my whole body was hurting from the beating. I saw my uncle Muhammad sitting on the floor. He couldn't get up. Then I found out the soldiers had arrested my brother Anas. Two Palestinian ambulances took me, my cousin Amjad and my uncle Muhammad to the 'Alia Governmental Hospital in Hebron. In the ER I also met my two cousins, Mariam and Asmaa, who were in shock. I was examined and x-rayed, and they found bruises all over my body. I went home and straight to bed. My brother Osama was treated at Soroka Medical Center and then transferred to the Kiryat Arba police station. From there he was transferred to the detention center at Etzion. I don't know where my brother Anas was taken. In a testimony she gave on 27 December 2021, Nisrin Salhab (12), Muhammad and Intisar's daughter, recalled: That night, I was watching a Turkish show on TV. My mother and my sister Asmaa were asleep. Suddenly, I saw flashlights shining through our windows. I went over to a window and saw a lot of soldiers around the house. I quickly woke my mother and Asmaa. My mother came out of the room and was surprised to find five soldiers holding my brothers Nur a-Din (23) and Salah a-Din (19). The soldiers led us to my uncle Mahmoud's storeroom. Some of my uncles and their children were there. Everyone was sitting on the floor, and the soldiers were pointing their weapons at them. They ordered us to sit on the floor, too, and we all sat down. I sat next to my cousin Mariam, who was crying. I saw the soldiers drag my cousin Anas to another room. I heard his voice and the voices of the soldiers, and it sounded like they were beating him. I was terrified because the soldiers were being barbaric. My cousin Ibrahim got into an argument with the soldiers and they immediately started beating him. A commotion broke out and I saw my cousin Osama yelling at the soldiers in Hebrew. I didn't understand what he was saying. One of the soldiers banged his head into Osama’s forehead and then they got into a fight. At least 10 soldiers stepped in and attacked Osama. They beat him with their rifle butts and dragged him along the floor. His head hit an old aquarium, and it crashed down onto him. Osama's head and face were covered in blood. I was screaming and crying, and shaking with fear. My father and uncles tried to defend Osama, and then the soldiers attacked them and beat them, too. Mariam, Asmaa and I screamed and cried. The soldiers took us and the rest of the women and children out of the storeroom and led us to my uncle Muhammad's house on the second floor. We could hear the shouting from there and realized the soldiers were still beating my father and my uncles. Five soldiers guarded the doorway to the apartment and wouldn’t let us leave. Asmaa was crying so hard, she could barely breathe. Mariam also kept crying, and I was crying and trembling with fear. We stayed like that until the soldiers left. From the balcony, we watched them lead Anas away in handcuffs and take Osama away in an Israeli ambulance. After the soldiers left, we went down to the storeroom and saw my father lying on the floor, shouting in pain. There was blood on the floor and on the wall. Asmaa and I sat down on the floor next to my father and cried. Two Palestinian ambulances arrived and the crew took my father and my cousins, Ibrahim and Amjad, to hospital. A relative also drove Asmaa and Mariam there in his car. Asmaa was having trouble breathing, and Mariam was screaming and couldn't stop crying. In a testimony he gave on 20 January 2022, Anas Salhab (24), Muhammad and Nidaa’s son, related: The soldiers put me in the room next to the storeroom and kept demanding I give them my phone. I told them I didn’t have one. They pushed me and hit me with their hands and rifle butts. I heard my family shouting in the storeroom, but I didn’t know what was going on there. After about an hour, they led me to a jeep outside. On the way, I saw my cousin Osama lying in the yard in front of the house and heard my uncles shouting that he needed medical treatment. I saw ambulances parked on the street. The soldiers put me in the jeep and blindfolded me. The jeep drove to the settlement of Beit Hagai. On the way, I asked for a painkiller for my headache but they didn’t give me anything, not even food or drink. Then the jeep drove somewhere else, returned to Beit Hagai and finally drove to Etzion. We got there around 8:30 or 9:00 A.M. They left me in the jeep until midday without any water or food, and I couldn’t go the bathroom. Then I was interrogated by the regional ISA coordinator, Taysir. He didn’t accuse me of anything but only warned me that I shouldn’t take part in Hamas activities. I told him the soldiers had invaded our home and attacked my family and me. He said it was a troop of inexperienced soldiers who don’t know how to behave with people. I was released less than an hour later. I waited outside Etzion until they let other students I’d seen inside go, and we traveled to Hebron together. There, each of us went home. I had bruises on my shoulder and back and I was in pain for several days.

3 February 2022

חיילים במהלך פשיטה על מחנה הפליטים אל-ערוב במחוז חברון. צילום: אן פק, אקטיבסטילס, 24.5.13

A Routine Founded on Violence

Occupation routine: Soldiers assault 16-year-old at al-'Arrub R.C., break his jaw and arrest him for 26 days

On Sunday, 29 November 2020, at around 8:00 A.M., two military jeeps entered al-'Arrub R.C. Earlier that day, two settlers who were traveling on the road near the refugee camp were slightly injured by stones. As the jeeps entered, children and youths threw stones at the soldiers. The soldiers fired tear gas canisters and stun grenades. One jeep followed the crowd and hit 16-year-old Muhammad Muqbal. He fell but then got up and kept running until the soldiers caught him. A soldier hit him in the jaw, and he fell again. Another soldier kicked him all over his body as he lay on the ground. The soldiers then handcuffed him and put him in the jeep. One of the soldiers kept beating him on the car ride. Muqbal and some other youths who were detained in al-'Arrub R.C. that day were taken to the Etzion police station, where they waited for hours and were interrogated intermittently. Muqbal’s basic rights were violated during his interrogation, which ended with him signing a document written in Hebrew, a language he does not understand. After the interrogation, the soldiers took the youths into a kitchen. One of the soldiers told them they could sleep on the floor. They were given no food or drink during this whole time. At 3:00 A.M., soldiers came and took Muqbal to Hadassah Ein Karem Hospital in Jerusalem, where he was handcuffed to the bed. Soldiers posted at the door to his room initially refused to let his father in to see him. Muqbal had jaw surgery two days later, and the next evening, 4 December 2020, he was taken to Megiddo Prison. On 6 December 2020, the military prosecution indicted Muqbal on two counts: Throwing a Molotov cocktail in March 2020 and stone-throwing on the day he was arrested. The prosecution asked to have Muqbal remanded to custody until the end of proceedings, but the military judge rejected the motion. The prosecution’s appeal was dismissed, and Muqbal was released on 25 December 2020, after a NIS 3,000 (~ USD 900) bail was posted. On 8 March 2021, Muqbal was convicted in a plea bargain. The first count of the indictment was dropped, and he was sentenced to 26 days in prison - equal to the number of days he had already served. The bail was converted to a fine. Muqbal’s case is not an aberration. It reflects the violence the occupation brings to the everyday lives of young males throughout the West Bank. Israel arrests hundreds of Palestinian minors each year, systemically and systematically violating their rights throughout the entire process - from the arrest itself, through the interrogation and in the legal proceedings at the Juvenile Military Court. While Israel boasts laws and procedures purportedly in place to safeguard the rights of minors, these are no more than a smokescreen designed to legitimize the severe harm caused to minors. Muhammad Muqbal described his arrest and 26-day incarceration to B’Tselem field researcher Musa Abu Hashhash on 28 December 2020: I ran fast, and one of the military jeeps hit me in the shoulder. I fell down and then got up and carried on running. I went into a house that had its door open. Three soldiers ran after me. One of them caught me and hit me more than once on the left side of the jaw. It hurt badly, and I fell on the floor. Another soldier attacked me and started kicking me in different parts of my body. The wound in my face was bleeding. I got up, and then they led me to the road, tied my hands behind my back and had me sit down in front of a closed shop. A few minutes later, they put me in a jeep and blindfolded me. I sat on the floor of the jeep. There were four soldiers in it, and one of them hit me, kicked me and spat at me more than once. The jeep drove for about 500 meters and stopped at the entrance to the refugee camp, by the gate. The soldiers took me out there, near the electric gate, and from under the blindfold, I saw four detainees that the soldiers had arrested before me, standing at the entrance. A man in military uniforms approached me and said he was “Captain Karam.” I’d heard about him. I know he’s the ISA officer in charge of our refugee camp. He hit me in the face with the butt of his rifle. He moved my blindfold and took a picture of me and the rest of the detainees. After about five minutes, we were all taken in a large military vehicle to the settlement of Carmei Tzur. We were kept there in the courtyard for about two hours. My jaw hurt, and it was bleeding. Then they put us in another military vehicle and drove us to the police station in Etzion. We got there in the early afternoon, and the soldiers took us into the courtyard. In the later afternoon, they started interrogating us, one by one. I was third in line. Before the interrogation, a lawyer spoke to me on the phone and told me I could exercise the right to remain silent and not to be afraid. An interrogator by the name of Yusef interrogated me. He accused me of throwing a Molotov cocktail at an Israeli bus a few months ago and throwing stones at military vehicles. I denied both accusations, and after ten minutes, the interrogator took me out to the yard. They left me there until the evening. Then they took me back into the interrogation room, and a different interrogator questioned me. He yelled and said I was lying. He started asking: “So the soldiers and camp residents who saw you do it are liars, and only you’re right?” I continued denying it, and the interrogator wrote down what I said and ordered me to sign my statement. He told me I was signing what I had said. I signed and gave my fingerprints, and my photo was taken. At around 9:00 P.M., after they’d finished questioning the other four detainees, the soldiers took us to a place that looked like a kitchen, in front of the yard, and one of them told us we could sleep on the floor. That’s when a military doctor came and gave us a coronavirus test and asked if we had any illnesses. We sat on the floor in the kitchen for about six hours. They didn’t give us food or drink, and we weren’t able to sleep either. My jaw hurt a lot. We were handcuffed and blindfolded the whole time, and time went by slowly. At around 3:00 A.M., the soldiers took me out of the kitchen. The others had been taken before. I was taken in a small vehicle with a four-soldier escort. I was sitting in the front seat, between two soldiers. We drove to Hadassah Ein Karem Hospital. I knew where I was by the sign at the entrance. I got there at about 4:00 A.M. I got tested for coronavirus again, and then I was given painkillers. Two soldiers escorted me. One of them was the one who attacked me during the arrest. I was taken into a room, and one of the soldiers tied my left hand to the bed. The pain was so bad I couldn’t sleep. In the evening, I was taken for X-rays and then brought back to the room. There was a patient from Jerusalem in the room, and he told me he’d heard the doctors saying in Hebrew that I was going to need surgery. After sunset, in the evening hours, my father came and tried to get in the room. He called out to me and asked me how I was feeling. The two soldiers kicked him out. He tried to get to the door every once in a while to ask me how I was doing and told me not to worry. The next day, Tuesday, I was taken into another room, and the soldiers were replaced. The new soldiers let my father come into the room for a few minutes and talk to me. My father told me he had signed consent for my surgery and told me it would be on Wednesday. On Wednesday, I was taken into the operating room, and the surgery started at around noon. It took four hours, and after, they took me back to the room. I found out the doctors had put in a fastener to put my jaw together on the left side. It stops me from chewing or moving my jaw. On Thursday, at around 8:00 P.M., I was taken in a vehicle used to transport detainees to Megiddo Prison with my hands and feet cuffed. In the prison, they took me into a room where I stayed by myself for four days. After that, I was taken into a room with five underaged detainees. I stayed at Megiddo for 18 days. I got soup to eat and painkillers. There were three court hearings that I attended through video. A lawyer represented me. Then, I was transferred to Ofer Prison, where there was a final hearing on 24 December 2020, which I also attended through video. It lasted more than half an hour, and the judge asked me what I would do when I went back home. I told him I’d go back to school. I couldn’t understand the interpreter that well because the connection wasn’t good, and I didn’t understand what the judge decided. They took me back to a room at Ofer, and I stayed the night there. In the morning, it was Friday, they told me I was getting released that day. I later found out I’d been released on a 3,000 NIS bail. That day, 25 December 2020, before noon, a military jeep took me to the al-Jib checkpoint, and my father was waiting for me there in a friend’s car and took me home. I still can’t eat properly, and I’m getting liquids only. A doctor at the hospital in Hebron told me it would take two more weeks before they remove the metal fastener. Muhammad’s father, Munir Muqbal, 47 and father of six, said in a testimony he gave to B’Tselem field researcher Musa Abu Hashhash on 6 December 2020, while his son was held in custody: The day after the arrest, in the early afternoon, I got a call from Hadassah hospital and got asked to go there to sign the approval for Muhammad’s surgery. They sent me an invitation, and I sent it to the Coordination and Liaison Administration. At 5:00 P.M., I got an entry permit. I went straight to Hadassah Hospital and went up to the seventh floor. I saw Muhammad in one of the rooms and tried to go in, but two soldiers who were in the room barred me from entering. I stood in the doorway and asked Muhammad how he was feeling, and he said he was okay. I tried to go in the room several times, but the two soldiers wouldn’t let me. I managed to take a picture of Muhammad, who was tied to the bed. I stayed in the hallway all night and tried to get some sleep on one of the chairs there, but I wasn’t able to. On Tuesday, he was taken to a different room, and the two soldiers who had been there were replaced by others. One of the new soldiers let me in and talk to him for a few minutes. I managed to take a photo of him too. His left hand was tied to the bed, and a patient who was in the room with him told me his surgery was scheduled for Wednesday. On Wednesday, at around noon, he was taken to the operating room. The surgery lasted four hours, and after that, he was brought back to the room, and I managed to talk to him for about 15 minutes. The doctors told me they had put in a jaw fastener, so he would have a hard time eating for quite some time. I expected Muhammad to stay in the hospital for further treatment, but to my surprise, the very next day, Thursday, in the evening, the soldiers took him to Megiddo Prison. I went home and got updates about what was happening to him from a lawyer with Defense for Children International. His mother and I are very worried because they took him back to jail right after the operation.

21 March 2021

מחנה הפליטים אל-פוואר. צילום: מוסא אבו השהש, בצלם

A Routine Founded on Violence

Occupation routine: Soldiers raid two homes in al-Fawwar Refugee Camp, assault family and destroy fuse box in workshop

In the early hours of 25 June 2020 and 7 July 2020, dozens of soldiers raided two homes of the extended Abu Hashhsash family in al-Fawwar Refugee Camp, under the pretext of searching for three family members. The soldiers entered both homes without masks. In the first, they beat three family members and blew up a fuse box in the metal workshop of another member. In the second, they set a dog on three members of the family and beat one of them. In both cases, right after the raid, an ISA agent called the family, who were not suspected of anything, and demanded that the relatives the military was looking for turn themselves in. In one case, the agent explicitly threatened that soldiers would return and turn the family's home into a “battleground”. Soldiers raiding Palestinians’ homes at the dead of night, waking entire families, including small children and infants, has long since been a fixture in the routine that the occupation regime imposes in the West Bank. In these raids – which, this time, included the use of violence and intimidation against family members, as well as damage to property – soldiers are not required to show a search warrant or even provide a reason. This is yet another example of the military’s abuse of power, even in the height of a global pandemic, with a lockdown imposed on most of the West Bank and fear among residents running higher than ever. A description of the incidents and testimonies given to B’Tselem field researcher Musa Abu Hashhsash (a member of the family) follows. 25 June 2020, the home of Sanaa and Yusef Abu Hashhsash: On Thursday, 25 June 2020, at around 4:00 A.M., some 30 soldiers raided a building in the center of al-Fawar Refugee Camp that is home to extended Abu Hashhsash family. Seven siblings live in the building, four of them married with children, bringing the total number of inhabitants to 25, including 12 minors . The soldiers said they were there to arrest two of the siblings, Sari (41) and Muhammad (52), who were not home that night. The soldiers first entered Yusef (46) and Sanaa Abu (41) Hashhash’s apartment on the ground floor and ordered the couple and their eight-year-old daughter, Jud, into the living room. Another two of their children, Yasin (17) and Adam (19), ran out of the house as soon as the soldiers came in. Islam (12) continued sleeping and Mahmoud (20) was sleeping at his uncle’s home on the first floor. Three soldiers stood watch over the family by the entrance to the living room, with their weapons drawn. The rest of the force went up to the first floor, where three of the single siblings live. Ya’qub (33) opened the door and was immediately assaulted by a soldier who hit him with a rifle butt and broke his nose. The soldiers then led him and his brother Ibrahim (42), who was not allowed to get dressed, down to the living room on the ground floor. One of the soldiers then forcefully woke Mahmoud and dragged him by the hair to the living room. The soldiers continued to the second floor, where three of the married siblings live with their families. One of the apartments was empty that night. In the second, the soldiers asked Iyad (45) about Sari and Muhammad’s whereabouts. In the last home, a soldier assaulted Ziad (58), slapping him and kicking him in the abdomen after he stated he did not know where his brothers were. The soldiers then took him down to Yusef and Sanaa’s living room. About half an hour later, the soldiers ordered the family to move to the building’s stairway and then went down the ground floor, where they blew up a fuse box in Yusef Abu Hashhsash’s metal workshop. Then they left the building. Ya’qub Abu Hashhsash had surgery to fix his broken nose on 29 June 2020. As soon as the soldiers left, an ISA agent called the family and threatened to send the soldiers back unless Sari and Muhammad turned themselves in. He also called other relatives and made the same threat several times a day for three days running, after which Sari Abu Hashhsash turned himself in at the al-Fawar checkpoint. Following his arrest and interrogation, a three-month administrative detention order was issued against him. As of the time of publication, he is being held at the Ofer military prison. In a testimony she gave on 1 July 2020, Sanaa Abu Hashhsash, a married mother of five, described that day’s events: On Thursday, 25 June 2020, at around 4:00 A.M., I woke up in a fright from banging on the door. My husband went to open it and dozens of soldiers suddenly came in. One of them, I think he was an officer, ordered us to go into the living room and told the soldiers to search the house. I realized they were looking for my brothers-in-law, Muhammad and Sari, who weren’t home. My husband, our young daughter Jud (8) and I went into the living room. My sons Adam (19) and Yasin (17) ran out of the house as soon as the soldiers entered. Islam (12) continued sleeping, and Muhammad (20) was sleeping at his uncle’s apartment on the first floor. Jud was petrified. It was the first time soldiers raided our home. She cried and held me tight. After a few minutes, my brother-in-law Ya’qub came into the living room. His nose was broken, and it looked crooked. A few minutes later, Ibrahim, my husband’s second brother, came in half naked, barefoot and only wearing boxer briefs. I was embarrassed to see him in that state, and so was he. Three soldiers stood at the doorway to the living room, pointing their weapons at us. One of them told us not to move or talk. A few minutes later, the soldiers brought in Ziad, my husband’s brother, and then they brought in my son Mahmoud. Later, Mahmoud told me that soldiers had come into the room he was sleeping in and one of them had kicked him and dragged him by the hair into the living room. They held us there for about half an hour, and then ordered us to go stand in the building’s stairway. Some of the soldiers entered a livestock pen near the house, where my husband has his workshop. A few minutes later I heard an explosion, and then they left the building. When we went back into the apartment, I was in shock and I tried to calm my daughter Jud down. Then we went to the workshop and I saw they’d blown up the fuse box. It was one of the hardest experiences I’ve ever had. Not only did they lock me in a room with my little daughter and my brother-in-law, who was half naked, while they kept pointing their weapons at us, but I was also worried about Yasin and Adam. I was afraid the soldiers would beat them like they beat Ya’qub, or that they’d been arrested. I was also scared that a confrontation would start between my brothers-in-law and the soldiers, and then they would start shooting. My husband Yusef is our main provider, and now after they blew up the fuse box in his workshop, it will be very hard on us financially. They caused thousands of shekels of damage, and business has been slow recently anyway because of the coronavirus. They punished me and my family for something we were not involved in, just because we live in the same place. In a testimony he gave on 26 June 2020, Ya’qub Abu Hashhsash recounted: At around 4:00 A.M., I was woken by noise from the stairway. I opened my bedroom door and suddenly, a soldier hit me in the nose with his rifle butt. When I left the room, I saw that many soldiers had raided the building and were spread out inside it. My nose really hurt , and before I realized what was happening, two soldiers carried me to the ground floor and brought me to the living room in my brother Yusef’s apartment. Yusef’s wife, Sanaa, and his little daughter were already there. Three soldiers were standing in the doorway and pointing their weapons at us. After a few minutes, they brought in my brother Ibrahim, who was half naked, and then they also brought in my brother Ziad and my nephew Mahmoud. I put my hand over my nose and tried to stop the bleeding. The pain was unbearable. Sanaa and her daughter were frightened, and she held onto her mother and cried. After about half an hour, the soldiers took us out to the building’s stairway, and they went into my brother Yusef’s workshop. We heard an explosion. We later found out that they’d blown up the fuse box. Before they left, they ordered us to tell my brothers Muhammad and Sari that they had to turn themselves in. In the morning, I went to al-Ahli Hospital in Hebron. They examined and x-rayed me, and it turned out that I had a fracture in my nose and that I have to undergo surgery, which is scheduled for 29 June 2020. In a testimony he gave on 2 July 2020, Ziad Abu Hashhsash, a married father of two, related: I woke up to loud banging on the front door. I opened up quickly and saw four soldiers in front of me, asking about my brother Sari. I told them I was asleep and that I didn’t know where he was. One of them slapped me and then repeated the question. I told him I didn’t know. Then, he slapped me again , kicked me in the stomach and ordered me to get out of the house quickly. My wife and two kids were away at her parent’s house. The soldiers carried me to the ground floor and put me in Yusef and Sanaa’s living room. My niece Jud, my brother Ya’qub, who I noticed had a nose injury, and my brother Ibrahim, who was half naked, were already in the living room. After a few minutes, they brought in my nephew Mahmoud. They held us there for half an hour. Meanwhile, they searched Yusef’s house and the livestock pen. They then ordered us to stand in the stairway. A few minutes later, I heard an explosion coming from Yusef’s workshop. The soldiers were looking for my brothers Muhammad and Sari, who weren’t home. After three days of phone calls from an ISA agent named “Nidal”, who threatened to raid the house again and turn it into a “battleground”, Sari turned himself in at the al-Fawwar checkpoint. 2 July 2020, the home of Arij and Musa Jamil Abu Hashhash: Musa (51) and Arij Abu Hashhsash (41) and their five children, aged 10 to 21. Arij and Musa are distant relatives of the two wanted brothers . The soldiers said they had come to arrest the couple’s son, Muhammad (19), who was not home at the time. The soldiers, accompanied by a dog, went up to the first floor and blew up a front door leading to a guest room, where 16-year-old Aysar was sitting. The dog lunged at him and left the room. Moments later, it came back and attacked Aysar again. Aysar held the dog’s head to stop it from moving, and a soldier yelled at him and ordered him to let go. One of the soldiers then told Aysar to stand with his face to the wall and his hands in the air. Some of the soldiers left to search the other rooms. The dog pounced on Arij and pushed her against the wall and then knocked down Musa, who has a speech impediment and difficulty walking. The dog attacked him again as he lay on the floor. After Musa had sat down in a chair opposite his bedroom, two soldiers ordered him to move into the living room. When he refused, one of them dragged him in by the arm. Then, they ordered the rest of the family into living room. An officer took Aysar to one of the bedrooms and questioned him about his brother Muhammad’s whereabouts. Every time he responded that he did not know where Muhammad was, the officer hit him. About half an hour later, the soldiers left the house. Immediately afterwards, an ISA agent called the family’s home and threatened Arij that if her son did not turn himself in that day, the soldiers would come back. About an hour later , around 6:30 A.M., Muhammad arrived at the checkpoint and turned himself him. He was taken to an interrogation facility in Ashkelon and then to the ISA detention facility in the Russian Compound in Jerusalem. From there he was transferred to the Ofer military prison, where he is currently being held. In a testimony he gave on 23 June 2020, Aysar Abu Hashhsash spoke about the incident: That morning, my brother Muhammad and I were in the living room, playing a game of PUBG on the mobile phone. One of our relatives asked Muhammad to help him unload petrol at a station near our house, so he left and I changed into my pajamas and got ready for bed. Then I heard a noise in the stairway. I thought it was Muhammad, so I went out to check why he was back so soon. Suddenly, I saw soldiers heading up to our floor. I closed the door, sat down on the couch and pretended to be busy with my phone. After a few minutes, soldiers broke down our door. A brown dog suddenly jumped at me and then he let go of me. It went out of the room and then came back and attacked me again. I grabbed its head to try and keep it off me, and a soldier yelled at me and ordered me to let go. The dog left the room and then the same soldier ordered me to get up and face the wall with my hands in the air. I heard my mother shouting outside the room, but I didn’t know what was going on in the rest of the house. I saw two soldiers. One of them was dragging my father into the living room. A few minutes later they brought my mother into the living room and then my sisters Athir (21) and Batul, who is my twin, and my little brother Tamim (10). The soldiers came and went, and I heard noises from the other rooms. One soldier stood behind me, I think he was an officer, and gave me three slaps on the back of my neck. He asked me about my brother Muhammad. I told him I didn’t know where he was and then he grabbed me by both cheeks and told me I was lying. Then he let go of me and went over to my father. He asked him about Muhammad and my father didn’t answer. My mother told the officer that Muhmmad doesn’t have a phone right now because it’s broken. The officer took me out of the living room and into my sister’s room. He pushed my face into her mattress and started asking again about Muhammad and where he was hiding the weapons . Every time I said I didn’t know, he punched me in the back. This happened several times and I kept answering the same thing. Finally, he hit me in the upper back with the butt of his rifle and made me stand up. Then he took me back to the living room and ordered me to stand facing the wall. Meanwhile, the soldiers searched the house. They asked my mother about the ground floor. They left the living room and I thought that they were gone, so I opened the door to check, and then one of them yelled at me to close it. Right after they left, I told my parents and my uncle, who lives next to us, what had happened in my sister’s bedroom. In a testimony he gave on 23 July 2020, Musa Jamil Abu Hashhsash related: I woke up from my wife’s shouting. She was standing outside our bedroom. I went out to see what was happening and before I could get a grip, a brown dog jumped at me and knocked me to the ground. He ran to the bathroom and then came back and jumped me again, while I was lying on the floor. I was shocked and didn’t understand what was happening. I barely managed to get up and sit on a chair in front of our bedroom, when two soldiers came to me and told me to go into the living room. I ignored them, and then one of them dragged me by the arm into the living room. I heard my wife yelling at them: “Leave him alone, he’s sick”. I went into the living room and saw my son Aysar standing there with his face to the wall and his hands in the air. The soldier sat me on a chair and a few minutes later, they brought my wife Arij, my two daughters, Asil and Batul, and my son Tamim into the room. I saw one of the soldiers, I think he was an officer, slap my son several times on the back of his neck and tell him he was lying. The same officer started asking me about Muhammad and ordered me to call him. My wife intervened and told him that Muhammad doesn’t have a phone. The officer asked about my illness, but I didn’t answer. I saw him take Aysar out of the room. About five minutes later, he brought him back in and ordered him to go back to facing the wall with his hands in the air. The officer put a soldier on guard to watch over us, with his weapon drawn, and left the room. A few minutes later, the officer and other soldiers came back into the room and asked my wife what’s on the ground floor. Then they left and ordered us to stay sitting and not move. The raid on our home was unnecessarily violent. My hand hurt for a week because of the dog’s attack. In a testimony she gave on 23 July 2020, Arij Abu Hashhsash recounted: At around 6:00 A.M., the soldiers left. About ten minutes later, an ISA agent named “Nidal” called and spoke to me in Arabic. He told me that he was looking for my son Muhammad, and that he knows he’s not a criminal but he’s suspected of a few things and he wants to punish him by law. He said Muhammad had to turn himself in that day . I didn’t answer him, and then he said he’d give me ten minutes to think about it and call back to see what I’d decided. After ten minutes, he called again and I told him Muhammad would turn himself in. I was afraid that if he didn’t, the soldiers would raid our home again and scare the whole family, especially my sick husband. Shortly after that, my brother-in-law Hani arrived and went with Muhammad to the checkpoint at the entrance to the camp. Muhammad turned himself over to the soldiers, and I was told they took him to a prison in Ashkelon and from there to the Russian Compound. They scheduled a court hearing for him on 16 July 2020 . For me, the raid was a moment of horror that I’ll never forget. I was most frightened when the dog attacked me, my sick husband and my son Aysar.

6 August 2020