Abdul Karim al-Saadi (left) and Mohammed Hawashin from Jenin refugee camp, who were released as part of the prisoner exchange deal (social media)
Jenin Camp – After 8 months in the Israeli occupation prisons, the child Abdul Karim Al-Saadi left Jenin refugee camp in the northern West Bank at dawn on Sunday, as part of the prisoner exchange deal, but so far he has not been able to meet with his family and return to his home in the camp, due to the storming by the occupation forces, bulldozing its entrances and besieging it from all sides, which prevented Abdul Karim's family from going out to receive him.
"All yesterday we were on our nerves, every hour a list of the names of the prisoners expected to be released was published on social media, and all the time we were not sure of his exit, but with the hours of sunset we received the definite list from the prisoners' club, which includes the name of Abdul Karim, and with its arrival, the occupation forces were besieging the entrances to the camp, we tried to get out, but that was not possible," said um Zahir al-Saadi, the mother of Abdul Karim.
The occupation forces entered Jenin refugee camp and clashes began in almost all its alleys, and the occupation bulldozers were destroying the camp yard, the vicinity of Al-Hussan roundabout and several streets deep inside the camp, and the injuries began to reach the city's hospitals, which were besieged from the moment of the first raid.
Therefore, the family remained stuck in their home unable to leave it, um Zahir added, "Every hour that passed, my tension increased, on the one hand I could not leave the camp because of the presence of the occupation army, and on the one hand I did not know anything about my son, we remained in this anxiety and tension, until the dawn hours, when I saw my son Abdul Karim appear on Al-Jazeera TV, only in this way I made sure that he was released."
The father of the liberated prisoner Abdul Karim Al-Saadi and his brother in front of the entrance to their house closed by the rubble of the shovel street in Jenin refugee camp (Al-Jazeera)
Telephone reception only
With a phone call, Al-Saadi's family received their son Abdul Karim, who was liberated from the occupation prisons, and his mother was unable to hug him the moment he arrived in Ramallah, and while Al-Saadi was trying to talk to her son, and check on him, an Israeli drone was bombing the house opposite her house in the vicinity of the headquarters of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency "UNRWA" in the camp, and before that, the occupation bulldozer was bulldozing the street. "They swept away the whole street and put rubble in front of the door of our house, I don't know how Abdul Karim could get here, cars can't cross the streets of the camp, so Abdul Karim can't go home," the mother said.
She added, "8 months ago Abdul Karim did not see the camp, and did not enter the house, and throughout this period he lives in difficult conditions in prison, especially as a small child, I do not want him to return home in these conditions, instead of returning home with joy he will return to see the funerals of the martyrs and the bombing of the neighbors' house, and the destruction of the street and close the door of the house, I chose not to return today."
In addition to Abdul Karim al-Saadi, the child Mohammed Hawashin (17 years old) was on a date for his release last night, and in the same case, his family, who live in the Hawashin neighborhood in Jenin camp, was unable to go out to receive him, and he has not been able to return to the camp until the moment due to the storming of the camp.
"Seven months ago, Mohammed was arrested, he is my only son, and every month his trial was postponed, I received him with a phone call, and I was waiting impatiently to hug him and smell him," said Suhair Hantouli, Mohammed's mother.
Israeli occupation forces' incursion into Jenin refugee camp and its siege prevent the arrival of children freed from Israeli prisons (Al Jazeera)
Stay in another province
Mohammed and Abdul Karim remained in Ramallah in the house of Mohammed's relative, and the two cannot return to their homes in the camp, due to the tense situation there and repeated Israeli incursions.
"The moment I learned that the prisoners could not be released due to differences over the truce agreements between the resistance and Israel, I completely collapsed, I was thinking about the psychology of Muhammad, who arrived at Ofer prison preparing to get out of prison and then be returned again if the deal was canceled, I thought about how his psyche would be affected, as he is still a child anyway," Hawashin's mother said.
"I asked my relatives in Ramallah to receive Muhammad and his companion Abdul Karim, because I could not reach him in Ramallah at the moment of his liberation, and I told him that the situation in the camp is dangerous, and that it is better to stay in Ramallah until the situation here calms down," she said.
She stressed that "it is an indescribable feeling to be prevented from hugging my son after all this period, not being able to sleep in his bed, nor see his home and his family, but this is the rule of occupation and these are our living conditions in the camp, they kill any joy for us."
Mohammed and Abdul Karim were arrested in the first quarter of this year on charges of attempting to carry out an operation and kill a person in Jerusalem, and from the moment of their arrest, their trial is postponed every month, and their families confirm that the next trial was scheduled for next month, and according to lawyers, estimates were heading to the possibility of a harsh sentence for many years.
Source : Al Jazeera