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Turkey and US bomb ISIL positions inside Syria

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At least 27 killed and ISIL defence posts destroyed in area controlled by armed group, according to Syrian state media.

Air raids destroyed a fifth-century Church in Daret Azza village, said activists [Reuters/FILE]

Air raids destroyed a fifth-century Church in Daret Azza village, said activists [Reuters/FILE]

by Al Jazeera

Turkish and US-led coalition forces have struck Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) targets north of the Syrian city of Aleppo, killing at least 27 fighters, according to state-run Anadolu Agency and other media reports.

Turkish artillery and rocket launchers fired into Syria while warplanes from the US-led coalition carried out three separate air campaigns, Anadolu said on Monday citing military sources.

Five fortified defence posts and two gun posts were also destroyed in the attack less than 10km from Turkey’s Syria border.

Turkish and coalition forces have carried out a series of such strikes recently to prevent further attacks on the Turkish border town of Kilis, which lies just across the frontier from ISIL-controlled territory in Syria, and has been regularly struck by rockets in recent weeks.

The US and Turkey have for months been discussing a military plan to drive ISIL from the border.

Elsewhere in Aleppo, fighting continued as government-backed armed groups said they took back two villages north of the battered Syrian city from ISIL.

Government’s deadly airborne raids also destroyed a fifth-century church, the Church of Saint Simeon Stylites in the village of Daret Azza, according to Syrian activists.

The fighting was focused around a strategic area that leads in and out of the rebel-controlled eastern Aleppo.

Claims and counterclaims

On Saturday, ISIL launched offensive in the east of the country in Deir Az Zor, but Syrian government troops fought back, and claimed to have retaken a hospital and a dormitory from the armed group which has seized territory in Syria and Iraq.

Al Jazeera’s Stefanie Dekker, reporting from the Turkish city of Gaziantep, near the Syrian border, said: “It’s been a battle back and forth in a small pocket of Deir Az Zor city under the control of the government.

“However, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based monitoring group is saying that the 95 percent of the city is under ISIL control which is in an oil-rich area.”

Meanwhile, John Kerry met King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia and its Adel Al-Jubeir, foreign minister, as part of diplomatic push aimed at ending the five-year-old war in Syria.

Kerry will head to Vienna to push for more international cooperation on ending the conflict that has left more than 240,000 people. He will also go to Brussels for meetings with NATO leaders.

A tenuous ceasefire has been in place since February brokered by Russia and the US, but Syria has continued to bomb rebel-controlled areas in Aleppo.

Nearly 300 people have been killed in the recent upsurge of violence.

Once Syria’s commercial heartland, Aleppo is now divided between the government-held west and the rebel-controlled east.

Hezbollah: Mustafa Badreddine killed in rebel shelling

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Lebanese group says top commander Badreddine killed by fire from a Sunni armed group in Syria.

Badreddine, 55, was one of Hezbollah's highest ranking officials. [AP/Hassan Ammar)

Badreddine, 55, was one of Hezbollah’s highest ranking officials. [AP/Hassan Ammar)

by Al Jazeera

Hezbollah has said its top military commander Mustafa Badreddine died as a result of artillery shelling by a Sunni armed group in Damascus.

The Lebanese Shia group announced Badreddine’s death on Friday and a military funeral was held for him on the same day in southern Beirut.

“Investigations have showed that the explosion, which targeted one of our bases near Damascus International Airport, and which led to the martyrdom of commander Mustafa Badreddine, was the result of artillery bombardment carried out by takfiri groups,” Hezbollah said in a statement.

“Takfiri” is a word used by the group to refer to armed Sunni groups.

Hezbollah earlier said it was working to “define the nature of the explosion and its cause, and whether it was the result of an air strike, or missile [attack] or artillery”.

Badreddine, 55, was one of the highest ranking officials in the group, and believed to be responsible for its operations in Syria, where thousands of its members are fighting alongside Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr, reporting from Beirut, said Badreddine was the most senior Hezbollah commander to have been killed in Syria since the conflict began.

“Hezbollah has suffered heavy losses in Syria, with some sources estimating that at least 1,200 fighters have died since the group started its involvement in the war,” she said.

“Hezbollah’s military intervention in Syria caused a divide in Lebanon. Some say it was totally wrong as it exposed Lebanon to threats. However, Hezbollah sees this as an existential decision because the Syrian government provides a lifeline to the group.”

Iraq: At least 50 killed in Sadr City market explosion

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ISIL claims car bombing in predominantly Shia Sadr City that left scores of casualties.

ISIL claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement on social media shortly after the blast [Khalid Mohammed/AP]

ISIL claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement on social media shortly after the blast [Khalid Mohammed/AP]

by Al Jazeera

A car bomb in a predominantly Shia district of the Iraqi capital has killed at least 50 people and wounded at least 100 others, police sources told Al Jazeera.

An SUV packed with explosives blew up near a beauty salon in a bustling market at rush hour in Baghdad’s Sadr City on Wednesday.

Most of the victims were women, Iraqi police and hospital sources told the Reuters news agency.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group (ISIL, also known as ISIS) claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement on social media shortly after the blast.

The group said the assault was carried out by a suicide bomber, a claim Iraqi officials denied.

There are fears that the death toll will rise further.

In the last two weeks, ISIL has claimed responsibility for two attacks targeting the Shia community in Baghdad.

First, a car bomb, targeting an open-air market frequented by Shia in Nahrawan near the Iraqi capital, killed at least 23 people and injured 38 others.

Two days later, a car bombing targeting Shia pilgrims commemorating the death anniversary of a revered 8th-century imam killed at least 18 people.

In February, ISIL also claimed a twin suicide bombing in Sadr City that killed 70 people.

According to the UN, at least 741 Iraqis were killed in April owing to ongoing violence, a sharp decline from the previous month.

In its monthly report issued on May 1, the UN mission to Iraq put the number of civilians killed at 410, while the rest were members of the security forces. A total of 1,374 Iraqis were wounded that month, it added.

In March, at least 1,119 people were killed and 1,561 wounded.

Baghdad remains the worst-hit area in terms of documented deaths, with 232 civilians killed and 642 wounded in April.

The fight against ISIL has exacerbated a long-running sectarian conflict in Iraq, mostly between the Shia majority and the Sunni minority.

Sectarian tensions also threaten to undermine efforts to dislodge ISIL from vast areas of the north and west of Iraq that they seized in 2014.

Bangladesh executes Motiur Rahman Nizami for war crimes

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Jamaat-e-Islami calls for general strike after hanging of its leader who was convicted of genocide, rape and massacres.

Motiur Rahman Nizami

by Al Jazeera

Bangladesh has executed head of the banned Jamaat-e-Islami party Motiur Rahman Nizami for war crimes committed during the 1971 war of independence to break away from Pakistan, the country’s law minister said.

Nizami was hanged at Dhaka Central jail at one minute past midnight local time on Wednesday after the Supreme Court rejected his final plea against a death sentence imposed by a special tribunal for genocide, rape and orchestrating the massacre of top intellectuals during the war.

Thousands of extra police and border guards were deployed in the capital Dhaka and other major cities to tighten security as Jamaat-e-Islami called for a nationwide strike on Thursday in protest of the execution.

Previous similar judgments and executions have triggered violence that killed around 200 people, mainly Jamaat activists and police.

Al Jazeera’s Tanvir Chowdhury, reporting from Dhaka, said the situation was still calm in the capital by Wednesday and there were no reports of violence in other cities.

“Unlike the last few years, Jamaat has not been able to materialise any kind of protest on the streets,” he said, adding that this was mainly due to heavy-handed tactics used by the security forces.

“Jamaat supporters are not allowed to gather anywhere. Many of the leaders are behind the bars or on the run,” he said.

“Human rights groups have criticised the government for extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances. So, it is hard for them to gather anywhere. We will see what will come out of Jamaat’s call for a 24-hour strike tomorrow from 6am.”

Jamaat-e-Islami denies that its leaders committed any atrocities. Calling Nizami a “martyr”, it said he was deprived of justice and made a victim of a political vendetta. Nizami had been in prison since 2010.

‘False allegations’

A senior Jamaat-e-Islami leader based abroad told Al Jazeera that Nizami was a supporter of Pakistan in 1971 but “all other allegations of killing, murder and rape are not correct. The tribunal has miserably failed to prove any of those allegations.”

He said Jamaat leaders inside Bangladesh were not giving interviews because their phones were tapped and their families were harassed if they spoke to media.

“Not only leaders, thousands of middle-ranking and ordinary Jamaat workers have been forced to flee their homes due to police repression or harassment. They are refugees in their own country due the vindictive nature of this government,” he said.

“Their agenda is to wipe out Islam gradually and whoever they think opposes their policies is being targeted.”

Five opposition politicians, including four Jamaat-e-Islami leaders, have been executed since late 2013 after being convicted by the tribunal.

International human rights groups say the tribunal’s procedures fall short of international standards – an accusation the government denies.

According to Phil Robertson, the deputy director of the Asia division at the Human Rights Watch, the trial was neither free nor fair as the court was cutting corners on fair trial standards.

“For example, Nizami was allowed to have only four defence witnesses as a man fighting for his life. And the court did allow defence to challenge the inconsistencies in the testimonies of prosecution witnesses,” he told Al Jazeera from Bangkok.

“Finally, we have seen a significant problem in all of these war crimes trials, where the presiding judge was having ongoing discussions about judicial strategy with external consultants and prosecutors in a way that raises concerns about the independence of the panel.”

David Bergman, an investigative journalist in Dhaka, told Al Jazeera that there was long-standing allegations against Nizami since the end of the war.

“So the fact that there was a trial in which he was accused of these crimes is not itself political,” he said, while also noting rights groups’ criticism of the trials.

“There are no doubts that many members of Jamaat-e-Islami are concerned about trials and executions targeting its members, and the party itself is subject to significant repression.”

The war crimes tribunal set up by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in 2010 has sparked violence and drawn criticism from opposition politicians, including leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami, that it is victimising Hasina’s political opponents.

According to the Bangladesh government, about three million people were killed and thousands of women were raped during the 1971 war in which some factions, including the Jamaat-e-Islami, opposed the break from what was then called West Pakistan.

The execution comes as the country suffers a surge in violence in which atheist bloggers, academics, religious minorities and foreign aid workers have been killed.

In April alone, five people, including a university teacher, two gay activists and a Hindu, were hacked to death.

Israel court convicts Palestinian boy of murder attempt

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Ahmed Manasra’s family condemns the ruling, saying it was an unjust court decision.

An Israeli rammed his car into Manasra shortly after the alleged attack. [Photo by the Israeli Government Press Office via Getty Images]

An Israeli rammed his car into Manasra shortly after the alleged attack. [Photo by the Israeli Government Press Office via Getty Images]

by Zena Tahhan, Al Jazeera

Israel’s Jerusalem District court has convicted a 14-year-old Palestinian boy on two charges of attempted murder after he allegedly carried out a stabbing attack on two Israelis.

Ahmed Manasra was with his cousin, 15-year-old Hassan Manasra, who was shot dead by Israeli police after the incident on October 12 at the illegal Pisgat Zeev settlement in occupied East Jerusalem.

“There was no kind of justice in the court’s handling of the case – this was an unjust decision. We did not expect it,” Ahmed’s father Saleh Manasra told Al Jazeera.

Shortly after the alleged attack, Manasra was hit by an Israeli driver who rammed him with his car. A video showing Ahmed bleeding on the ground and gasping for help was shared widely, garnering media attention.

Voices of Israeli bystanders shouting and swearing at the boy, telling him to ‘die’ were heard in the video, causing outrage.

“He did not have the intention to kill any one – he and his cousin were merely trying to scare Israelis with the knife. There is no evidence that he tried to stab any one,” Tariq Barghouti, Ahmed’s lawyer, told Al Jazeera.

“This is a racist court and a court of the occupation. It had a preconceived notion about the incident due to the media uproar and [Israeli Prime Minister] Netanyahu’s statements about it. The Israeli public opinion influenced the court decision and led to the conviction of the child Ahmed Manasra on no basis and without any explanation,” he added.

After the incident, Palestinian Authority President, Mahmoud Abbas, appeared on television accusing Israel of using excessive force against Palestinians, in which he referred to Manasra’s case as an execution.

Netanyahu responded by saying Abbas’s comments constituted a “new big lie.” The Israeli government released videos and photos showing Manasra alive in an Israeli hospital shortly after.

Another video exposing an Israeli security interrogation of Manasra was leaked to local media. In the video (WARNING: some viewers may find this disturbing) which Al Jazeera cannot verify, several Israeli police interrogators are seen yelling at Manasra and accusing him of attempted murder, causing more uproar.

Barghouti expects that Manasra may face up to ten years in prison, but says they are planning to appeal the court’s decision. “How is this an attempted murder when the Israeli soldier, Elor Azarya, who was filmed executing a Palestinian man in Hebron wasn’t murder? A small comparison such as this one is enough to explain that we are dealing with a court without any kind of justice,” said Barghouti.

The soldier was charged with manslaughter, spurring thousands of Israelis to rally in support of Azarya at Tel Aviv’s Rabin Square on April 19.

Manasra’s next court case is set for July 11, but his lawyer says he expects the session to be postponed until the end of July, after which the sentencing is supposed to take place.

In the latest wave of violence since October, the Israeli army has killed at least 206 Palestinians, including protesters, bystanders and alleged attackers, while 33 Israelis have been killed in stabbing and shooting incidents.

Fresh air strikes batter Syria after truce expires

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At least 20 government strikes hit Damascus suburbs as UN Security Council calls meeting to discuss escalating violence.

People inspect damaged buildings targeted by air strikes in Deir al-Asafir district, in the Damascus suburbs [Mohammed Badra/EPA]

People inspect damaged buildings targeted by air strikes in Deir al-Asafir district, in the Damascus suburbs [Mohammed Badra/EPA]

by Al Jazeera

At least 20 Syrian government air strikes have peppered the Damascus suburbs after a temporary truce agreement expired, a monitoring group said.

The strikes targeted areas in Eastern and Western Ghouta after the deal expired at midnight, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on Wednesday.

The monitor also reported fighting between rebels and government forces in Deir al-Asafir, an area targeted by the strikes in Eastern Ghouta.

Separately, the UN Security Council scheduled a meeting on escalating violence in the city of Aleppo in response to an urgent request from the UK and France.

“Aleppo is burning … and its civilians are being killed,” Matthew Rycroft, Britain’s ambassador to the UN, told the Security Council after members adopted a resolution demanding an end to attacks on hospitals and medical workers in Syria and other warzones.

French ambassador François Delattre said the city had “been under constant bombardment since 2012” and described it as the “martyred centre of the resistance” to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Jan Egeland, chairman of the UN task force on humanitarian access in Syria, said during a press conference on Wednesday that the fighting in Aleppo is creating new areas for endless suffering with new possible besieged areas where hundreds of relief workers are unable to move.

“We do not need declarations, we need an end to the bombardment and an end to the fighting,” Egeland said.

At least three people were killed in a rebel rocket attack on a hospital there on Tuesday, the observatory said, in shelling that killed at least 19 people in government-controlled parts of the city.

Rebels and government forces have been battling each other with rockets and bombs across Aleppo. More than 250 people have been killed – mostly by government air strikes – in less than two weeks.

Staffan de Mistura, the UN special envoy, recently estimated that 400,000 people have been killed in a five-year conflict that has driven millions of people from the country.

Baghdad car bomb kills at least 13 Shia pilgrims

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Attack targets pilgrims commemorating death anniversary of Imam Musa al-Kadhim in Iraq’s capital.

The pilgrimage has in recent years turned into a huge event that brings Baghdad to a standstill for days [Husseini/Reuters]

The pilgrimage has in recent years turned into a huge event that brings Baghdad to a standstill for days [Husseini/Reuters]

by Al Jazeera

A car bombing has killed at least 13 Shia pilgrims commemorating the death anniversary of a revered imam in Baghdad, according to Iraqi officials.

A parked explosives-laden car detonated shortly after midday on Monday in the southwestern Saydiyah neighbourhood, a police officer told the AP news agency

Tens of thousands of Shia Muslims have been making their way this week to the northern Baghdad neighbourhood of Kadhimiyah, where the 8th century Imam Musa al-Kadhim is buried.

Kadhim, the seventh of 12 imams revered in Shia Islam, died in 799AD.

The pilgrimage has in recent years turned into a huge event that brings Baghdad to a standstill for days.

Security forces had previously said they would be blocking major roads in Baghdad on Monday and Tuesday to prevent potential attacks on pilgrims.

On Saturday, a car bomb killed at least 23 people and injured 38 others near the Iraqi capital.

The bomb targeted an open air market frequented by Shia in Nahrawan. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group claimed responsibility for the bombing.

Israel army kills Palestinian siblings in ‘attack’

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More than six months of violence leaves at least 209 Palestinians and 29 Israelis dead.

Israeli forces shot dead two Palestinians during an alleged knife attack at the Qalandia checkpoint [Mohamad Torokman/Reuters]

Israeli forces shot dead two Palestinians during an alleged knife attack at the Qalandia checkpoint [Mohamad Torokman/Reuters]

by Al Jazeera

Israeli forces have shot and killed two Palestinians as they allegedly attempted to stab soldiers at a checkpoint in between occupied East Jerusalem and the rest of the West Bank.

The troops fatally shot 23-year-old Maram Saleh Hassan Abu Ismail and her younger brother Ibrahim, 16, at the Qalandia military checkpoint between the central West Bank city of Ramallah and East Jerusalem, according to the Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Health.

Speaking to Al Jazeera, Israeli police spokesperson Micky Rosenfeld said the pair were “armed with knives” and “came toward the border guards” to attack them.

After the incident, Israeli forces fired tear gas and sound grenades during clashes with Palestinian youth.

Since October 1, increased tensions in the occupied Palestinian territories and Israel have boiled over into violence.

Throughout that period, Israeli forces and illegal settlers have killed at least 209 Palestinians, including alleged attackers and protesters, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

Meanwhile, at least 29 Israelis were killed in shooting and stabbing attacks carried out by Palestinians, says Israel’s ministry of foreign affairs.

‘Extrajudicial killings’

Ramy Abdu, director of the Gaza-based Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor, criticised the Palestinian government’s inaction after six months of escalated violence.

“In many incidents, they [Israeli soldiers] actually committed extrajudicial killings, particularly at checkpoints and military points,” he told Al Jazeera.

“People still believe that the Intifada should be escalated to the next level,” Abdu said. “But they are frustrated with the current situation, the international community and their own government over Israel’s systematic, structural violence.”

More than half a million Jewish Israelis already live in more than 150 Jewish-only settlements across the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, while Israeli military forces have erected several dozen checkpoints impeding Palestinians’ ability to move freely.

Several Palestinian political parties, including Hamas and the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, have blasted the PA’s security cooperation with Israeli forces throughout the ongoing uprising.

“The only way out of the current national impasse is if the PA showed political will to reconcile with its national partners and not with the Israeli occupation,” Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said in a statement on Tuesday.

Saudi Arabia agrees on plan to cut reliance on oil

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Vision 2030 envisages forming public investment fund, boosting affordable housing and giving expats long-term residence.

Saudi Arabia's economy has suffered over the past 12 months in line with the falling price of oil [EPA]

Saudi Arabia’s economy has suffered over the past 12 months in line with the falling price of oil [EPA]

by Al Jazeera

Saudi Arabia’s cabinet has agreed on a broad-based economic reform plan, known as Vision 2030, revealing how the oil-reliant state plans to diversify its economy over the next 14 years.

Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the deputy crown prince, said on Monday that the country was building up its public investment fund to become a major player in global markets.

He said Saudi Arabia was restructuring its housing ministry to increase the supply of affordable housing, and creating a “green card” system within five years to give expatriates long-term residence.

Salman al-Ansari, founder and president of the Washington DC-based Saudi American Public Relations Affairs Committee (SAPRAC), told Al Jazeera the green card system gives more rights to expatriates to invest in the country.

“Almost 10 million foreigners send their money back to their country. They can’t invest in this country, so with this green card idea we are giving more rights to expats for investment or to buy houses,” he said.

“That will create a big move for the Saudi economy. It is a visionary kind of move to not only help the Saudi economy and Saudi citizens but also to help the foreigners in the country.”

Saudi Arabia will also sell shares in state oil giant Aramco and set up the world’s largest wealth fund in line with the plan, Mohamed bin Salman said separately in an interview with the Saudi-owned Al Arabiya news channel.

“We plan to sell less than 5 percent of Aramco. Aramco’s size is very big. It is estimated at between $2 trillion and $2.5 trillion,” he said.

“We plan to set up a $2 trillion sovereign wealth fund … part of its assets will come from the sale of a small part of Aramco.”

Saudi Arabia’s economy has suffered over the past 12 months in line with the falling price of oil, with a $98bn budget deficit last year and an estimated deficit of $87bn this year. Its reserves decreased from $746bn in 2014 to $616bn today.

“They have announced these kind of changes before. It is going to be very interesting to monitor the implementation of the new rules,” Ahmed al-Ibrahim, an expert in Saudi affairs and security, told Al Jazeera.

“To implement some of these, you need the collaboration of society. For example, if you want to increase the empowerment of women, you need to liberalise your society,” he said.

“In so many more ways, Saudi society needs to contribute to the government for the Vision 2030 to succeed.”

The country has proven oil reserves of 267 billion barrels and potential reserves of up to 900 billion.

Israel releases 12-year-old Palestinian girl from jail

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Family welcomes the release of D al-Wawi, who was arrested in February on charges of attempted manslaughter.

D's parents said their daughter was 'paying a heavy price for something that did not happen' [Mary Pelletier/Al Jazeera]

D’s parents said their daughter was ‘paying a heavy price for something that did not happen’ [Mary Pelletier/Al Jazeera]

by Rania Zabaneh, Dalia Hatuqa, Al Jazeera

Halhul, occupied West Bank –   At the Jbara checkpoint near Tulkarem, the al-Wawi family and human rights groups’ representatives waited patiently. The 12-year-old finally emerged, after having spent 2.5 months in a prison, making her the youngest Palestinian female detainee. As her relatives embraced her, the girl, clad in a pink shirt, fought back tears and said nothing.

D* was arrested on February 9 near the illegal settlement of Karmei Tzur, just north of her hometown of Halhul. Now, out on early parole, D served more than half of her sentence of 4.5 months in an Israeli prison for attempted voluntary manslaughter and illegal possession of a knife.

The family had appealed her detention, citing international legal norms, and Israeli law, which prohibits the imprisonment of children younger than 14 for the country’s citizens.

D is the first child in her family, which includes six girls and three boys, to see the insides of a prison cell. Her father, 54-year-old Ismael al-Wawi, had been working in Israel for more than 25 years before Israeli authorities revoked his permit on the day she was arrested.

According to Israeli military court documents, D approached the settlement with a knife hidden under her school uniform. The documents cited footage that showed the girl lying on the ground after she was told to give up the knife.

This was not the child her family knew. A lively girl, D spent a lot of her time playing outside with her cousins – something that left their relatives wondering how she would cope in a prison cell.

“Even inside the courtroom, she was playing,” said Sabha al-Wawi, D’s mother. “She’d move her shackled feet or her hands around to play with the handcuffs. Even the judge told her to stop.”

Her mother recalled an incident that left her questioning the Israeli authorities’ version of events.

“One day, I overheard the girls talking about the spate of knife attacks. D and her eldest sister both said to each other, ‘If anyone tells you I’ve done something like this, please don’t believe them. I would never attack anyone,'” Sabha said.

The day D was arrested, her mother feared she was either injured or killed – the fate of many Palestinians who have either carried out attacks or were accused of being assailants in a spate of unrest that began in October 2015. Since then, 207 Palestinians and 33 Israelis and foreign nationals have been killed.

On March 28, more than a month after the incident, D was finally allowed to see her mother, but they were banned from any physical contact. Before she was detained, D had been asking about the fate of the children of Palestinian journalist Mohammad al-Qeeq, who at the time was on a months-long hunger strike, if he were to die.

“She kept wondering – who will take care of his children?” Sabha recalled. “Who will take them out on excursions, who will buy them gifts on Eid, who will feed them?”

Even as the family welcomed D’s release, they were still reeling from the loss of Ismael’s job, their only source of income. D’s parents also have to pay a $2,000 court-ordered fine.

“I’m unemployed now and taking out loans to cultivate a plot of land that we have,” Ismael said. “It will be a while before the land yields any produce. So in the meantime, I have reached out to several institutions to help financially.”

There are 7,000 Palestinians currently in Israeli prisons, according to the Palestine Liberation Organization’s Prisoners Affairs Commission. The figures include 70 women, 750 in administrative detention, 700 sick detainees, and 30 who have been imprisoned for more than 20 years.

The figures also include 440 Palestinian children, who are held in Israeli detention for “security” offences, according to Defence for Children International – Palestine (DCI), a Ramallah-based rights group. This is the highest tally since the Israel Prison Service started providing figures in 2008, the group said. More than 100 of these children are between 12 and 15, while 12 are girls and seven are in administrative detention.

A majority of children endure physical violence in the Israeli military detention system, according to a recent report by DCI called No Way to Treat a Child. The “widespread and systematic ill-treatment of Palestinian children” includes detaining them in the middle of the night, often without notifying the parents of the reasons for the arrest.

“International law is clear: Children should only be detained as a last resort, for the shortest appropriate period of time, and under absolutely no circumstances should they be subjected to torture or ill-treatment,” said Khaled Quzmar, the group’s general director. “Why then, year after year, do we see Palestinian children experiencing widespread, systematic, and institutionalised ill-treatment at the hands of Israeli forces?”

Israeli authorities said D confessed to planning a stabbing attack, but DCI found that “many children maintain their innocence, but plead guilty as it is the fastest way to get out of the system. Most receive plea deals of less than 12 months. Trials, on the other hand, can last a year, possibly longer. Bail is rarely granted and most children remain behind bars as they await trial”.

The group also said that interrogators often use “position abuse, threats and isolation to coerce confessions”, documenting 66 cases in which children were held in solitary confinement.

Sabha says the family believes D has “suffered a grave injustice”.

“She’s too young to hurt anybody. She’s not even physically capable of attacking anyone. She did not pose a threat,” Sabha said. “She is paying a heavy price for something that did not happen.”

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