Palestinian youth activist Murad Mousa Alkhmour was seized by Israeli occupation forces who invaded the Dheisheh refugee camp near Bethlehem in the early pre-dawn hours of Tuesday, 17 October. Alkhmour and his family had been repeatedly harassed and threatened by the so-called “Captain Nidal,” the infamous Israeli occupation military commander who has engaged in a reign of terror against the youth of Dheisheh and their families.
Alkhmour, 20, was born on 12 November 1996 and is a student at Al-Ahliya University. He and his family members have been subjected to numerous harassing and threatening phone calls by “Nidal,” whose threats against the youth of Dheisheh have included ones to “make all of you disabled.” Shortly before Israeli occupation forces fired the deadly shots at Palestinian youth Raed al-Salhi, unarmed, in Dheisheh camp, “Nidal” had threatened to “shoot [Raed] in front of your mother.”
Also seized were two more Palestinians from the Bethlehem area, Khaled al-Masri and Saleh al-Hreimi, part of the ongoing Israeli occupation raids and attacks targeting active Dheisheh youth. Later on the same day, Nizar Fararjeh was detained at an occupation military checkpoint after occupation forces seized and held his brother Nabil as a hostage until Nizar came to the checkpoint.
Alkhmour was one of 18 Palestinians seized by Israeli occupation forces in raids on Tuesday morning, including five people seized from al-Khalil, including Hamza Ali Awad, Khaled Raed Baher, Adi Natsheh, child Imad al-Salibi (15) and former prisoner Yousef al-Faqih; three from Jerusalem, Mohammed Jamal Abu Kaf, Mansour Aslim and Salah Sharifa; three from Jenin, Asim Abu al-Hija, Alaa Hushiya, and Nasim Yasser Farhat; Samer Ibrahim al-Sada and Kamal Abed Amer from Nablus; Mohammed Nofal from Qalqilya and Abdel-Rahman al-Jalis from Ramallah.
Later on Tuesday, Islam Fayeq Dabaya, 18, was seized by Israeli occupation soldiers who attacked his car on the road to Tulkarem after they had earlier invaded and ransacked his family home.
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network reiterates its demand for the immediate release of Murad Alkhmour, Khaled al-Masri, Saleh al-Hreimi, Nizar Fararjeh and all of the detained and imprisoned Palestinians in Israeli jails, and an end to the ongoing and violent attacks and terror threats against Palestinian youth in Dheisheh. We urge greater international mobilization against the ongoing invasions, attacks and arrests directed at Palestinian youth. While the pseudonym “Nidal” is used to deliver these ongoing threats to Palestinian youth and entire refugee families, they are not an individual effort; instead, they reflect an institutionalized campaign of the Israeli military to suppress the active youth of the camp through killing, maiming, imprisonment and threats. We urge the freedom of all 6,200 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails and we demand that “Captain Nidal,” as well as the Israeli occupation commanders and officials that authorize his threats and terror against the youth of Dheisheh be held accountable and prosecuted for his crimes.
