I suddenly heard the sound of loud banging at around 5:00 a.m. It sounded like someone was kicking our front door. Shortly afterwards my 16-year-old daughter told me Israeli soldiers were at the door.

 

I got up and asked through the door who was there. Someone replied "the army". I told them to wait because I wanted to tell my brother-in-law, who lives upstairs, and ask him to come down. The soldiers refused and told me to open the door "now". Then they broke the door open using a metal ram.

 

By this time all the families living in the building were awake and they came down to our apartment. There were 14 people jammed into one small room. The oldest person was 40-years-old and the youngest 10-months.

 

About 25 soldiers entered our apartment; six of them wore facemasks. They spread out throughout the apartment and stood by each door.

 

The commander asked me to name my children and I did. Then he saw some empty beds and wanted to know where the children were. I told him that some of my children were at their grandparents’ house. Then they searched our apartment and broke the door of a wardrobe and a computer.

 

The commander then pointed to my 14-year-old son, M., and said he wanted to take him away for "a talk" and would return him soon.

 

The soldiers allowed my 14-year-old to put his clothes on then took him away without giving us any further explanation or anything in writing. They left at around 6:30 a.m. As they left our building some young people from the camp threw stones at the military convoy and the soldiers responded with stun grenades and tear gas. It was like a war zone.

 

I was in shock as I worried about my young son who was fasting at the time for Ramadan and did not have enough sleep. I was worried about what he might say under interrogation as he is vulnerable and in a weak physical and mental state.

 

At around 4:00 p.m. an Israeli intelligence officer phoned to say my son had been questioned and did not confess and that he was being held at Ofer prison, near Jerusalem. I could not sleep for two days and I lost my appetite. I could not eat knowing that my son was in prison. I constantly worried about him and wondered whether he had slept or eaten well.

 

My son was released without charge two days later but he is a different boy. He is short-tempered and stressed all the time and does not accept any advice from us. He keeps telling us to leave him alone.