It was the month of Ramadan and we were still in bed at around 10:00 a.m. Suddenly about 20 Israeli soldiers broke open our front door and walked into our home, it was barbaric. More soldiers remained outside. In no time they were standing over my head and all I heard was “where is he…where is he”. I was still half asleep and did not really comprehend what was going on. Some of the soldiers were wearing face masks. We were all stunned. 

 

The soldiers soon went to my children’s bedroom and started to beat them. They beat up Muhammad (20 years), Yassin (17 years) and Abdelrahman (15 years). They kicked them and struck them with the back of their guns. Then they sat them down next to each other and tied their hands behind their backs. Then they wanted to know which one was Yassin. When they identified him, they told us he was under arrest. When my husband asked for the reason, all they said was there was a problem and they wanted to solve it. I held my 11-year-old son close to me as we were both trembling. 

 

The soldiers remained in our home for about one-and-a-half hours. During this time, they went to the houses of my brothers-in-law which are in the same compound. They brought them all to our house. Then they took Yassin to the kitchen and questioned him there. Sometime later they took him away without giving us any documents or telling us where they were taking him or for how long. 

 

As soon as they left our house I started to cry and could not stop. We did not hear anything about our son for four days. I cried the whole time and could not sleep. I did not see Yassin for two months when I received a permit to visit him. I could not bear to look at his empty bed. Until today I find it hard to even talk about this experience and I start to cry. 

 

Yassin was given a six-month administrative detention order, but luckily, he was released earlier in the prisoners’ exchange with Hamas after 7 October 2023. We understand that Palestinian informants in our refugee camp informed on our son. There are so many informants around us that it is hard to know who they are. In my opinion propably two out of 10 people in our camp are informants. 

 

This was the second time our home has been raided by the Israeli army. About three months earlier soldiers came to our house at around 8:00 a.m. I was sitting in the courtyard with my sister-in-law having coffee when all of a sudden soldiers banged at the front gate and then stormed in. They asked me and my sister-in-law for our names. They did not do anything but asked about my 15-year-old son. When I told the commander my name he took me aside and told me he was going to be frank with me and said he was coming for my son. I told him that my son was with his father at work.

 

Then he said he was not going to leave the house without my 15-year-old son. He did not believe me and ordered the soldiers to look for him. They looked inside our house and when they did not find him the commander rang my husband and told them if our son did not hand himself in they were going to shoot him dead. By this time the whole camp knew there were Israeli soldiers at our house and a crowd started to gather. At that point the soldiers left.

 

Soon after the soldiers left my husband and son came home. As soon as they arrived the commander rang my husband and told him he needed to see our son, he told him there was a problem and they needed to sort it. My husband told the commander our son was too young to go and see him by himself. The commander told my husband to accompany our son to his office.

 

At around noon my husband took our son to the DCO military base. The whole time the commander kept calling us and threatening that he was going to kill our son We were terrified. Our son was scared and kept saying he did not do anything wrong to deserve this. 

 

When they arrived at the DCO, a female soldier told my husband to leave our son and go home. For the next 30 days we heard nothing from our son. We later found out they had kept him in solitary confinement for 27 days. They did not even bring him to court. 

 

Only god knows my state of mind when my sons are in prison. After 7 October 2023, news came from inside the prisons that the conditions were harsh and that the guards were beating the prisoners and reducing the amount of food as punishment for what Hamas had done. I was constantly worried. Thankfully they were included in the prisoners' deal and they both came home in November 2023. I will never forget the ordeal I went through…never!