Israeli Forces Kidnap 12-Year-Old Palestinian Boy as Hostage to Pressure His Father into Surrendering
Salfit (Quds News Network)- Israeli soldiers stormed a home in the town of Kafr Al-Dik, west of Salfit in the northern occupied West Bank, before dawn on Monday. They came looking for former detainee Ahmed Abdul Karim Al-Dik.
But when they couldn’t find him, they took his 12-year-old son, also named Ahmed. The boy was born while his father was held in Israeli jails.
Israeli oldiers blindfolded and handcuffed the young child. They then took a photo of him in that condition and sent it to his father via WhatsApp, threatening to kidnap the rest of the family unless he turned himself in.
The soldiers didn’t stop there. They forced the child, at gunpoint, to record a voice message. In it, he begs his father to come home, fearing that he will be detained, beaten, or even killed.
The Palestinian Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club confirmed the kidnap in a joint statement. They said Israeli forces had detained at least 20 Palestinians overnight across the West Bank, including children and former detainees.
The use of children as tools of psychological warfare is not new, but this incident is drawing renewed attention to the daily terror families face under Israeli military rule across the occupied West Bank.
