Video footage: Soldiers detain Palestinian five-year-old in Hebron

11 July 2013

On 22 July 2013, the Israeli military's Legal Adviser in Judea and Samaria sent B'Tselem a response. In his letter, he addressed the general issue of soldiers having to deal with a complex reality in which children under the age of criminal responsibility throw stones. Regarding the detention of Wadi' Maswadeh, the adviser justified the soldiers' conduct from beginning to end, except their blindfolding and handcuffing the child's father. B'Tselem sent a reply, emphasizing that the soldiers had acted in a fundamentally unacceptable way throughout the incident, and that acknowledging the complexity of the reality in which they operate cannot justify blatantly unlawful violation of children's rights and harm to their welfare.

B'Tselem has written urgently to the Legal Adviser in Judea and Samaria, demanding his response to a grave incident in which soldiers detained a five-year-old boy in Hebron for two hours, after he threw a stone. The soldiers threatened the child and his parents, handcuffed and blindfolded the father, and handed the boy over to the Palestinian Police. Detaining a child below the age of criminal responsibility, especially one so young, has no legal justification.

On Tuesday, 9 July 2013, at around 3:30 P.M., seven soldiers and an officer detained Wadi' Maswadeh, who is five years and nine months old (his birthdate on his mother's ID card: 24 September 2007) close to 'Abed checkpoint, near the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron, after he threw a stone. B'Tselem field researcher Manal al-Ja'bari, who was present at the scene, recorded the entire event on video. After local residents who had gathered at the spot tried to intervene, the soldiers put the crying child into a jeep with another Palestinian resident and took him home. When they reached the house, the officer informed Wadi's mother that he intended to hand him over to the Palestinian Police. The mother refused to let them take the child before his father, Karam, came home. About half an hour after Wadi' was detained, Karam Maswadeh came home. The officer informed Maswadeh that he was arresting his son in order to hand him over to the Palestinian Police. Meanwhile, Wadi' had spent the entire time hiding behind a pile of mattresses in the house and crying. The parents made it clear to the officer that the child is five years old, but the officer insisted on taking him to the DCO and threatened them, saying that the army would arrest the father if they did not comply. The soldiers then made Karam and his son leave the house and walk to the army camp on a-Shuhada street.

The first part of the incident, recorded by B'Tselem's field researcher Manal al-Ja'bari

Initial detention

In his testimony to B'Tselem, Karam Maswadeh said:

"When I got home, I saw several soldiers standing at the entrance to my house. An officer came up to me and ordered me to get my son, Wadi'. Before I got home, the soldiers had tried to persuade my wife to hand Wadi' over, but she had refused to do it until I came back. The officer told me that he was going to arrest Wadi' and hand him over to the Palestinian Coordination. I asked him: "Why arrest a five-year-old boy?" A soldier standing next to the officer showed me a stone and claimed that my son had thrown it, and that it had hit the car of a settler who was driving north, near 'Abed checkpoint. I tried to persuade the officer not to take Wadi' to the DCO, but he said that if I didn't bring him, I'd be arrested. […] I went inside the house and got Wadi', who was hiding there. He was crying."

Wadi' and his father were taken to the army base, where they were detained for half an hour. Then, the soldiers handcuffed and blindfolded Karam and walked him, in full public view, together with his son, to the Policeman's checkpoint (56), where the soldiers detained them for another thirty minutes. At that point, a lieutenant colonel arrived whom the father, who speaks Hebrew, understood to be an Israeli coordination officer from the DCO. The officer questioned Wadi' and asked him why he had thrown stones. He also reprimanded the soldiers for arresting the father and son in the presence of video cameras, and complained that "you're harming our public image". The officer made it clear to the soldiers that, when detainees are held with cameras around, they must be "treated nicely". Then, one of the soldiers untied the father's hands, removed his blindfold and gave him water. A few minutes later, an officer from the Palestinian DCO and several Palestinian policemen arrived. The soldiers handed Karam and Wadi' Maswadeh over to them, and the two were taken to a Palestinian police station, where they were briefly questioned and released.

The second part of the incident, documented by a B'Tselem volunteer 'Imad abu-Shamsiyeh:

Father and son detained at checkpoint

Officer arrives

Transfer to Palestinian Police

In her letter to the Legal Adviser to Judea and Samaria, B'Tselem Director Jessica Montell stated: "The footage clearly shows that this was not a mistake made by an individual soldier, but rather conduct that, to our alarm, was considered reasonable by all the military personnel involved, including senior officers. It is particularly troubling that none of them apparently thought any part of the incident wad problematic: not the fact that they scared a five-year-old boy out of his wits, nor threatening him and his parents to "hand him over" to the Palestinian Police, nor threatening to arrest the father on no legal grounds, nor handcuffing and blindfolding the father in front of his son.".

Based on B'Tselem's ongoing experience, there appears to be a procedure in which soldiers detain Palestinian minors suspected of stone throwing and transfer them to the Palestinian Police, at the Palestinian DCO. In the case at hand, the soldiers apparently acted according to that procedure, which does not, and cannot, have any legal grounds when the minor is below the age of criminal responsibility.

In the military judicial system in the West Bank, the age of criminal responsibility is 12, as in Israel. The legal meaning is that the security forces are not allowed to arrest or detain children under that age, even when they are suspected of having committed criminal offenses, and the authorities must deal with the law breaking in other ways. Indeed, B'Tselem has documented many incidents in which Israel minors under the age of criminal responsibility threw stones at Palestinians, and no measures were taken against them. Under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which Israel signed, minors must be protected in criminal proceedings, especially when they are so young.

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Hebron City Center

Israeli soldiers detain 8- and 10-year-old at Hebron checkpoint for over 5 hours

On Monday, 12 September 2022, at around 12:30 P.M., two soldiers stationed at Checkpoint 160 (Diwan a-Rajabi) in central Hebron detained Palestinian brothers Hamam (8) and Ghazi (10) Maharmeh, who were on their way home from the UNRWA school located about 250 meters away. The soldiers made the two children sit on the ground outside the checkpoint, and later put them in a room inside it where, they were questioned about throwing stones at the checkpoint. No one informed their family they were detained. The soldiers then made the children sit on the floor of the room for about an hour. Meanwhile, their father, Wael Maharmeh, arrived at the checkpoint after searching for his missing sons and hearing of their detention. Maharmeh pleaded at length with the soldiers, who eventually led the children to a fenced crossing within the checkpoint compound so their father could see them and pass them drinks. The soldiers held the children at the checkpoint until about 6:00 P.M., when Red Cross representatives arrived. Wael Maharmeh waited outside the checkpoint the entire time with his three-year-old son. While the particulars of this case may be extreme, it is not unusual in itself. Incidents of this kind are all too familiar to Palestinians in central Hebron – and throughout the West Bank – who live a daily routine of violence by security forces, which sometimes extends to young children, too. The soldiers did not make a mistake or misunderstand protocol – they were carrying out the policy of the Israeli apartheid regime. Ghazi Maharmeh and his father gave their testimonies to B’Tselem field researcher Manal al-Ja’bari on 19 September 2022: Wael Maharmeh (45), a father of four from central Hebron: I live with my wife and our four children, between the ages of three and ten, in the al-‘Aqqabah neighborhood in the Old City of Hebron. On 12 September 2022, at around 1:00 P.M., the preschool teacher called to say my two eldest sons, Ghazi and Hamam, hadn’t picked up their brother Hares (3) as usual. I was very worried and went to pick Hares up. Then I went with him to the UNRWA school that the boys attend, but it was empty by then. While I was there, a teacher from the school called and told me the military had caught them and was holding them at Checkpoint 160. I went to the checkpoint with Hares and spoke to a soldier there. He said they were holding my boys in a room inside the checkpoint because they’d thrown stones. I tried to explain to the soldier that they’re young and also new at school, so I didn’t believe they’d thrown stones. I asked the soldiers to let me see them, but they refused and ordered me to move away from the checkpoint. I sat down with Hares by the fence near the turnstile and refused to budge without my kids. The soldier I spoke with got angry and started talking to me aggressively. He put me on the phone with someone who introduced himself as an officer and said my kids had thrown stones at the soldiers. When I said that wasn’t true, he ordered me to wait quietly and not cause trouble, until the police arrived to investigate the matter. Then he hung up. I waited by the checkpoint for about an hour without seeing my boys. Then I asked the soldier to give them a drink of water, and he said he only had his own water. I went to the store, bought water and juice and asked the soldiers to pass them to my kids. Then the soldiers brought my kids out to the iron passageway. Hamam was crying and scared. I gave them the water and juice and talked to them, in order to distract them and calm them down. There was someone there from CPT (Community Peacemaker Teams) who tried to film the kids without being noticed, after the soldiers forbade her. The soldiers kept the kids in the iron passageway, which is like a cage, until 6:00 P.M. Meanwhile, I talked to the Palestinian DCO and the Red Cross. When that didn’t help, I started posting requests on Whatsapp groups for help from human rights organizations. At some point, a Red Cross vehicle arrived. Only then were my children released – after about five and a half hours at the checkpoint. They were exhausted, hungry and scared, and their faces were pale. I took them home. On the way, I tried to calm them down and joke with them in order to make them feel better. . Ghazi (10), a 5th grader: School finished at about 12:30 P.M., and I headed home with my brother Hamam, who goes to the same school. Suddenly, an Israeli military jeep stopped next to us and two soldiers got out. They grabbed Hamam and me, spoke to us in Arabic and tried to put us in the jeep. We refused to go and screamed and cried. So instead of putting us in the jeep, they made us sit behind it. There was a woman there that I recognized, because she always watches over children crossing checkpoints near the school. She came over and asked for our names, and the soldiers shouted at her and made her move away. After she moved away, the soldiers took us to Checkpoint 160 and put us in a room. Hamam cried and begged the soldiers to leave us alone. When they took us into the checkpoint, a soldier asked me in Arabic why I threw stones. He also wanted us to give him the names of children who throw stones. I told him it’s our first year at this school and we don’t know anyone. He ordered me to shut up and wait in the room for the police to come and get us. He sat us down on the floor. We waited like that for about an hour, until I heard my dad’s voice outside the checkpoint. He was speaking with the soldiers in Hebrew. Hamam started crying again, and I tried to calm him down and get him quiet down. The soldiers took us out to a crossing with an iron fence and our dad gave us water and juice. He said he would stay with us and wouldn’t leave without us. Hamam calmed down and stopped crying. We waited at the crossing for a lot of hours. The whole time, my dad sat with my little brother Hares on a fence by the turnstile and talked to us. In the end, the soldiers let us go. We were tired and hungry. Dad took us home.

25 October 2022

The Abu Shamsiyehs block the road to protest the detention of two of their sons, Tel Rumeidah, Hebron, 10 May 2019

Hebron City Center

Daily life under occupation: Israeli soldiers, Border Police and settlers harass a Palestinian family in the neighborhood of Tel Rumeidah, Hebron

The Abu Shamsiyeh family lives in the neighborhood of Tel Rumeidah in the center of the city of Hebron. The settlement of Admot Yishai was established just a few meters away from Tel Rumeidah in 1984. Ever since, Israeli settlers and security forces have turned the lives of the local Palestinian residents into a living hell of draconian travel restrictions and constant harassment and violence. This reality has driven dozens of families out of the neighborhood. Feeling the neighborhood was too dangerous for their eldest sons, ‘Imad (49) and Fayzeh (45) Abu Shamsiyeh sent ‘Awni (20) and Muhammad (17) to live with relatives in al-’Eizariyah in northern East Jerusalem. On Friday, 10 May 2019, the two brothers came home to visit. At around 6:00 P.M., they went out with their friend Tareq Salhab (19), who also lives in Tel Rumeidah, to buy groceries for iftar [the daily meal breaking the Ramadan fast]. They were on their way home when two settlers – a man and a woman – drove by. The man honked at them and ‘Awni gave him the finger. The settler then pulled over and got out of the car. He began swearing at ‘Awni and attempted to assault him. ‘Awni swore back. A soldier in civilian clothes who was passing by ordered them to be on their way. Muhammad and ‘Awni walked Tareq to his grandfather’s home at the end of the street, across from the entrance to the settlement of Admot Yishai. The settlers followed them in their car, stopped at the entrance to the settlement and spoke to a soldier stationed there. The settler and soldier then approached ‘Awni and an altercation ensued. At that point, more soldiers came on the scene and Muhammad ran home to get his parents. After they got there, a fight broke out between the family and the soldiers and settlers. At some point during the exchange, soldiers forcibly removed Fayzeh’s hijab [head scarf]. Fayzeh Abu Shamsiyeh, 45, a Hebron Municipality employee, described the incident in a testimony she gave B’Tselem field researcher Manal al-Ja’bri on 12 May 2019: .My son Muhammad came home and told me soldiers had detained his brother ‘Awni. He went right back out to the street and I ran after him. I saw ‘Awni being held in a small alley. He was surrounded by many soldiers. I tried to go to him, but one of the soldiers shoved me and blocked my way. I heard ‘Awni yell at the soldier: “Don’t touch my mother!” At that point, Muhammad and his friend Tareq tried to get to me to help me, but the soldier handcuffed them – with their hands behind their backs ¬– and walked them toward the settlement. I followed them into the settlement. Soldiers and settlers tried to block my way, but I managed to keep running and follow the soldiers. I saw them lead Muhammad and Tareq into a shipping container. Then, soldiers in civilian clothing and some female Border Police officers conducted me out of the settlement, and as they were doing that, they pushed me and pulled off my hijab. It was very humiliating. I saw soldiers brought ‘Awni too, also in handcuffs, toward the settlement. I told him not to be afraid. I told that I was there, nearby. In a testimony he gave B’Tselem field researcher Musa Abu Hashhash on 19 May 2019, ‘Awni Abu Shamsiyeh, 20, who work as a mechanic in al-‘Eizariyah, described what happened after the soldiers intervened: One of the soldiers called Tareq, and then he called me too. I asked my brother Muhammad to go home, because he was carrying the groceries we had bought. Within minutes, more soldiers gathered around, and a military officer told me to give him my ID card and cell phone. He dragged me over to the street corner, and two soldiers frisked me. In the meantime, I saw Muhammad coming back from the house and sitting down on the sidewalk, next to Tareq. One of the soldiers knocked Muhammad to the ground and beat him. I pushed the two soldiers away from me and ran over to Muhammad. The soldiers were trying to handcuff him, and I tried to get them to leave him alone. In the meantime, I saw my mother trying to reach Muhammad and one of the soldiers shoving her and trying to keep her from coming near. I got mad and yelled at the soldiers to lay off my mother. A few soldiers dragged me away from there, beat me and tried to handcuff me. Meanwhile, my father came and tried to calm me down. In the end, the soldiers handcuffed me, with my hands behind my back. A few minutes later, the soldiers led me into the settlement. On the way, I saw soldiers leading my mother out of the settlement. She must have run after Muhammad. She was angry. She was shouting and one of the soldiers was pushing her. I resisted, until I managed to cut the plastic cable ties off my hands and ran toward my mother, but the soldiers grabbed me and handcuffed me again. They led me into a shipping container that’s inside the settlement. Inside, I saw Muhammad and Tareq sitting on the floor. The soldier ordered me to sit down on the floor. I refused. I tried to talk to Muhammad and Tareq, but the soldiers then took me outside and ordered me to sit on the ground outside the container. One of them blindfolded me. It was very hot outside. I asked him to bring me water, so I could wash my face. He brought me a bucket of water. They left me there for about an hour, handcuffed and blindfolded. It was almost 7:30 P.M., time for iftar. I was very tired, hungry and thirsty. I also had some bruises in a bunch of places. To protest the detention of ‘Awni, Muhammad and Tareq, ‘Imad Abu Shamsiyeh went and sat down in the middle of the road with his son Saleh (13) and daughter Marwah (15). They sat there to keep settlers’ cars from driving past. After about 15 minutes, a good number of soldiers arrived on the scene and an officer threatened to arrest ‘Imad if he did not move out of the road. He and his children had no choice but to move to the sidewalk. They waited there until about 7:30 P.M., when the jeep with ‘Awni, Muhammad and Tareq drove by. The continued to the Bab a-Zawiya checkpoint, about 100 meters away, where the three young men were released. Marwah Abu Shamsiyeh, 15, spoke about what happened in a testimony she gave B’Tselem field researcher Manal al-Ja’bri on 12 May 2019: I was at a friend’s house, when my sister Madlen called and told me soldiers had arrested my parents and brothers. I rushed home, and on the way, I saw my parents out on the street. They were shouting and they were surrounded by lots of soldiers and Border Police officers. My father told me the soldiers had arrested my brothers ‘Awni and Muhammad and told me and my brother Saleh to sit with him and block the street until they were released. We sat, and then a soldier came up to us and told us to get out of the road. We wouldn’t leave, and in the meantime, a military jeep came there to get my brothers. My father kept blocking the road, and then the soldiers started pulling and dragging him along the street. I chased them and tried to get them away from him. Five Border Police officers were shoving me and my parents. While they were pushing me, a neighbor came and pulled me into her house for a few minutes. I saw them pushing her too. In the meantime, some neighbors gathered outside and so did some extremist settlers, including Baruch Marzel, who was taunting and mocking us. My father phoned all the relevant officials in the Palestinian DCO and the Red Cross and asked them to intervene to protect us and get my brothers released. About an hour later, a military jeep arrived with ‘Awni and Muhammad inside. They took them to the Bab a-Zawiya checkpoint and released them there. At first, I was very happy my brothers would be coming home to have iftar with us. I really missed them, but now I can’t stop thinking about what we went through: the soldiers’ assaults, the beatings, being dragged along the street, my mother’s hijab being pulled off and the settlers mocking her. I wish our father would find us another house, a safer place to live. This isn’t the first time settlers and soldiers attacked us. This incident illustrates how fragile, exposed and unpredictable life has become for Palestinians who continue to live in the center of Hebron, near settlers. Israel enforces a regime of separation in this area which makes life unbearable for Palestinian residents, in the hopes that they will leave, ostensibly of their free will. As part of this regime, Israel has installed dozens of checkpoints and roadblocks which force Palestinian residents to take roundabout, hard to traverse routes to reach their destinations; it has shut down hundreds of businesses; and all the while security forces and settlers constantly harass and assault local residents with impunity. These conditions have driven thousands of Palestinians out of the area, and most of those who remain do so because they have no other choice.

25 June 2019

Minors

New footage from Hebron: The moment an Israeli soldier fatally shoots 7-month-old Sam Abu Haikal

New footage obtained by B’Tselem uncovers the moments when the Abu Haikal family was shot. Seven-month-old Sam Abu Haikal was killed in the shooting, and both his parents were injured. The footage clearly shows that the Israeli soldier fired at the car as it was slowing to a stop. The car was far from the soldiers and posed no danger to them whatsoever.Moments later, in another video obtained by B’Tselem, seven-month-old Sam’s father, Fahed, is seen just after his son was shot. Fahed is holding baby Sam in his arms, trying to stop the bleeding from his head with his hands, while Sam’s mother, Daniyah, who was also injured by the gunfire while holding her son, is seen sitting on the ground, next to the car.B’Tselem’s Executive Director Yuli Novak: “In the past two and a half years, Israel has killed tens of thousands of children in Gaza and the West Bank. The immunity it gets from the international community has led to a reality where, under Israeli rule, Palestinian lives are entirely disposable – even a seven‑month‑old baby.”Last Friday, 5 June, an Israeli soldier fired at a Palestinian family driving home from a family visit, as they sat in their car in the Tel Rumeidah neighborhood in Hebron. The family was shot after the father, who was driving, noticed soldiers standing on the road and slowed the car in preparation to stop. Sam, a seven‑month‑old baby who was in his mother’s arms in the back seat, was struck in the head and pronounced dead shortly afterward. Sam’s parents were also injured by the gunfire; his mother is still in the hospital. After the shooting, the soldier who fired and another soldier who was with him left the scene without checking the car or offering any assistance to the critically wounded baby or to his mother.The first video was received without sound. Video may be used in its entirety.

9 June 2026