2016 Video of IOF Kidnapping a Palestinian Child Resurfaces Online
The Claim
A video shows the IOF recently kidnapping a Palestinian child.
News posted on
Emerging story
Recently, social media users widely shared a video clip purporting to show a 9-year-old Palestinian kid violently kidnapped by a group of Israeli criminals.
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar investigated the viral video and found the claim to be misleading.
While the footage features Israelis abducting a Palestinian child, Misbar's team determined the video to be older than claimed.
2016 Video Shows IOF Kidnapping of a Palestinian Kid
B'Tselem, the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, published the video on its YouTube channel on January 3, 2017, stating that it was shot by one of its volunteers on December 23, 2016.
The video originally features special units of the Israeli occupation army abducting a Palestinian child named Muamen Murad Mahmoud Shteiwi, aged seven, during his participation in the weekly peaceful protests in Kafr Qaddum against settlement.
In addition, Euro News also released the video on December 26, 2016, with the description indicating that a group of Israeli occupation forces kidnapped a 7-year-old Palestinian boy, Muamen Murad Mahmoud Shteiwi, on December 23, 2016, during the weekly protest in the West Bank village of Kafr Qadum.
Israeli Occupation Forces Attack Weekly Protest in Kafr Qaddum
Murad Shtewi, an official in charge of the popular resistance file in Kafr Qaddum and the father of the kidnapped child, described how the demonstration proceeded as usual, with hundreds of town residents marching towards the closed street. However, they were ambushed by members of an Israeli special unit, who seized the child Muamen and took him to a military jeep for field interrogation before releasing him.
Muamen himself recounted the terrifying moments of the attack by 12 masked soldiers, expressing his extreme fear and cries for help as one of them grabbed him by the neck, threw him to the ground, and aggressively interrogated him about his presence in the area.
Israel Detains and Abuses Thousands of Palestinian Prisoners
As of April 17, local monitors report a significant increase in the number of Palestinians from the occupied West Bank held in captivity, with figures rising to at least 9,500 from the previous count of 5,200 before the Israeli war on Gaza on October 7.
Since then, Palestinians have been detained for seemingly innocuous actions such as raising a Palestinian flag or posting messages of empathy for Gaza's victims on social media. Thousands of former prisoners have been rearrested since October 7 on grounds of suspicion that they pose a threat to Israel, as reported by ex-detainees and human rights organizations.
Israel’s War on Gaza Figures
According to recent data from the Palestinian Ministry of Health in the occupied West Bank, Israel has killed 34,789 Gazan people, with over 14,500 children among the deceased, since October 7. In addition, more than 78,204 individuals have been injured, while over 8,000 are reported missing.
In the occupied West Bank, Israel has killed 498, with 124 children among the casualties and injuries exceeding 4,950.
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