I was asleep when I heard loud banging at my front door and somebody shouting to open up. It was around 4:00 a.m. I quickly opened the door and about 25 Israeli soldiers entered our home.

 

The commander asked for my children. Then he forced me into the bedroom with one of my sons (10-years-old) and my daughter (12-years-old). They were both terrified and had no idea what was going on. My son wet his pants from fear and my daughter could not stop crying. The commander made fun of my daughter as she cried and did not allow us to use the toilet. 

 

Meanwhile the other soldiers locked my older son, who is 20-years-old, up in his bedroom and turned it upside down while searching it. I could hear my son shouting.

 

Other soldiers searched our kitchen and caused damage to the cabinets. They also slit the couches and the curtains, broke the glass in the picture frames on the wall and broke the wardrobes. They even looked inside the water tanks on the roof, inside the car and in the garden.

 

The commander accused us of hiding weapons in the house and kept telling us to bring them out. By the time they left our home it looked like a rubbish tip, clothes on the floor, broken glass everywhere and damaged pieces of furniture. I felt faint just looking at it.

 

After they searched our house the soldiers tied my older son’s hands behind his back with plastic ties, blindfolded him and told him to say goodbye to us because he was under arrest. I could see he was shivering and I tried to give him some words of encouragement. Then they took him away without telling us where they were taking him or why. They left without giving us any documentation. 

 

After the soldiers left our neighbours and relatives came to our house. It was around 5:30 a.m. They helped me clean and tidy things up and gave me a lot of support. This is not the first time the military has raided my home, but this time it was truly terrifying.

 

The following day I received a phone call from the commander at around 2:00 p.m. He told me my son needed to be "disciplined" and his "ears twisted". He told me my son was being held in Ofer prison, near Jerusalem. He also told me his military court hearing would be the following day and that I could attend.

 

Since this incident I’ve been finding it hard to sleep. I don’t feel safe in my own home. I wake up in the middle of the night and find it hard to go back to sleep. I go from one window to the other, inspecting the neighbourhood and listening out for unusual noises and movements outside. I keep my telephone with me all the time in case someone tries to call me about my son. My younger daughter cries a lot and tries to hide it from me but I can tell from her swollen eyes.

 

I applied for a permit to visit my son in prison but I was denied a permit and I intend to file a complaint.