Balata refugee camp, West Bank: Yousef Mesheh was sleeping in his bunk bed when Israeli forces stormed his home at 3am
Within moments, the 15-year-old Palestinian said he was lying on the floor as soldiers hurled insults at him and punched him. A soldier struck his mother in the chest with the butt of his rifle and locked her in the bedroom, where she screamed for her sons.
Yousef and his 16-year-old brother Wail were forced out of their home in the Balata refugee camp in the northern West Bank. Yousef was in a sleeveless undershirt and could not see without his glasses.
“I can’t forget that night,” Yousef told The Associated Press from his living room, which was decorated with pictures of Vail, who is in custody. “I still hear gunshots and screams when I go to sleep.”
According to a forthcoming report by Israeli human rights organization Hamokid, the Israeli military arrested and interrogated hundreds of Palestinian teenagers in the occupied West Bank in 2022, without ever issuing summons or informing their families.
Those arrested were charged with throwing stones or Molotov cocktails without a permit in Israel. Some teens say they were arrested to get information about neighbors or family members.
Hamokede said that in premeditated arrests of minors by the military last year, most of the children were taken from their homes in the dark of night. After being dragged from bed, children as young as 14 were interrogated while they were sleep-deprived and disoriented. Access to water, food and toilets was often denied. Yousef said that during the seven-hour journey to the detention center, soldiers beat him when he asked to be released.
The Israeli military argues that it has the legal right to arrest minors at its discretion during late-night raids.
Lawyers and advocates say the tactic goes against Israel’s legal promises to alert parents to their children’s alleged crimes.
“We demanded that nightly arrests of children be a last resort,” said Jessica Montell, director of Hamocade.
The rights group said there had been some improvement two years earlier, when the Israeli government, in response to a petition to the Supreme Court by HaMoked, asked the military to call on parents to bring their children in for questioning. But according to data reported to the Supreme Court, the army called Palestinian parents to interrogate their children only a few times.
In the nearly 300 cases of Hammocked in the West Bank last year, not a single family received a summons. Minor offenses and cases in which children were released without charge – as in the case of Yousef – were no exception. Hamokade said the numbers are incomplete because he believes many similar cases are never reported.
“They are not implementing a process that they themselves have created,” said Ayad Abu Ektash, Defense for Children International’s accountability program director in the Palestinian territories. “It’s part of the philosophy of questioning that kids are scared and tired.”
In response to a request for comment, the Israeli military said it tries to call up Palestinian children suspected of minor crimes who have no history of serious criminal convictions. But, the Army argued, this policy does not apply to serious crimes or “when subpoena for investigation would harm its purpose.”
The army did not comment on Yousef’s arrest, but said that his brother, Wael, faces charges related to “serious financial crimes”, including “contacting the enemy”, “receiving money illegally” and “an illegal organization”. Helping is included. These allegations usually reflect cases of Palestinians communicating with people in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.
Although Hamocade found that most cases were quickly dropped, the late-night arrests haunted the children long afterward.
Since his Nov. 7 arrest, Youssef “hasn’t been the same,” said his mother, Hanadi Meshe, who narrated her ordeal to the AP. He cannot concentrate in school. He doesn’t play football anymore. She sleeps beside him some nights, holding him during his nightmares.
“I feel like I’m always being watched,” Yousef said. “I’m scared when my mom wakes me up for school in the morning.”
Similar stories are prevalent in the area. The northern city of Nablus emerged as a major flashpoint for violence last year after Israel launched a crackdown in the West Bank in response to Palestinian attacks in Israel.
Last year, Israeli forces killed at least 146 Palestinians, including 34 children, Israeli rights group B’Salem reported, making 2022 the deadliest for Palestinians in the West Bank in 18 years. According to the Israeli army, most of those killed are Palestinian militants. But youths who resisted the intrusion and others who were not involved in the confrontation have also been killed. Meanwhile, at least 31 Israelis were killed in Palestinian attacks last year.
Israel says the operations are meant to dismantle terrorist networks and thwart future attacks. Palestinians have condemned the raids as collective punishment aimed at Israel’s 55-year-old occupation of a future state they want. Israel captured the West Bank along with East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Middle East War.
Night-time arrest raids are not limited to the West Bank. Israeli police also conduct regular raids in Palestinian areas of East Jerusalem.
Last fall in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Hanina, Rania Elias heard a pounding at the door before dawn. Her youngest son, 16, was sleeping in bare underwear. Israeli police entered their home, pushed Khoury to the floor and struck him in the face. There was blood everywhere, she said, as police dragged her to the Jerusalem detention center for questioning.
“You can’t imagine what it’s like to feel helpless trying to save your child,” Ilyas said.
In response to a request for comment, Israeli police said they accused Khouri of being part of a group that threw stones at a Jewish family’s car on 12 October, injuring a passenger.
Under the new ultra-nationalist government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, parents say they fear for their children more than ever. Some of the most powerful ministers are Israeli settlers who promise a tough stance against Palestinians.
“This is the darkest moment,” said activist Murad Shitawi, whose 17-year-old son Khalid was arrested last March in a nighttime raid on his home in the West Bank town of Kafr Qaddum. “I’m worried for my sons.”