I woke up at around 2:30 a.m. to the sound of an explosion coming from our neighbour’s house. Israeli soldiers had blown open their front door. I woke my husband and told him soldiers were in our neighbourhood. I also woke my son up and told him to put on some clothes.

 

Shortly afterwards we heard very loud banging at our front door. Shortly afterwards the soldiers broke open our front door and stormed into our house without waiting for us to open up. As soon as the soldiers entered our home they aggressively pushed my husband to one side and claimed he should have opened up the door faster.

 

The soldiers then asked for our 16-year-old son and alleged that he had earlier thrown stones at soldiers. When I told them my son does not throw stones they accused me of lying and showed me some photographs of clashes with soldiers.

 

By this time our son was in the living room and when the soldiers saw him they started to beat him in front of me. Then a soldier smashed our television and a computer as well breaking the bathroom door. When I tried to intervene, a soldier pushed me into another room and shut the door.

 

My 18-year-old daughter was terrified. When she complained about her brother being beaten a soldier raised his arm threatening to beat her. When she swore at the soldier he hit her hard on her shoulder. It was a chaotic scene, everyone shouting, and everyone very tense.

 

Then the soldiers told us they wanted to arrest our 16-year-odl son and they immediately blindfolded him. They verbally abused him and called him "a son of a whore”. Then they dragged him down the stairs and I heard them banging his head against the wall. I tried to calm my son down and told him to be strong and brave.

 

The house felt empty without our son. He is a lively boy and created a cheerful atmosphere in the house. I saw him in the military court and could barely hold my tears back.

 

Our son was released from prison about two months later and I have noticed a change in his behavior. He has become short-tempered and rebellious.

 

Israeli soldiers come to our neighbourhood almost every night. It is a tough neighbourhood for us but especially for the young boys. I find it hard to sleep at night as I wait and watch and worry that soldiers might raid my house again at any time.