Palestinian teen suffers broken hand following arrest

A 15-year-old Palestinian boy sustained a broken hand and bruising after being assaulted and detained by undercover Israeli police officers in the Issawiya neighbourhood of occupied East Jerusalem.

Fadi Rafat Al-Issawi was detained last Sunday when two Israeli undercover police officers in civilian clothing stopped to ask him and his friend Mustafa Abu Al-Hummus for directions. The officers then assaulted the two minors and detained them for allegedly throwing rocks, according to a member of the village’s monitoring committee Muhammad Abu Al-Hummus.

Abu Al-Hummus told Ma’an that during a court hearing held for the boys, Israeli authorities said three cars raided the village and detained the two “in order to limit rock-throwing incidents.”

Fadi was sent away to Beit Hanina, a neighbourhood north of his home in Issawiya, where he was placed under house arrest. It remained unclear with whom Al-Issawi was staying.

Fadi’s mother told Ma’an he suffered from medical negligence while in Israeli police custody, and was only taken to hospital at 11pm despite being arrested in the afternoon, and despite suffering from apparent fractures, bruising and pain.

She added that the family was prevented from visiting him when they were called to the hospital an hour later. After being treated, Fadi was placed in a police car where he waited from 2am to 6am.

Israeli police did not provide him with painkillers or antibiotics as doctors had recommended, according to Fadi’s mother, and he received no further treatment during the three days he spent at Jerusalem’s Russian Compound police station and detention centre.

His family took him to hospital after he was released and his cast had to be refitted. Doctors said his hand might need to undergo surgery. Doctors also revealed that Fadi sustained a hairline fracture in his nose and an infection in his mouth after being hit in the face.

Fadi was among at least five other Palestinian youth detained last Sunday, and days later, some 52 Palestinians were detained – 11 of them minors – in occupied East Jerusalem neighbourhoods for allegedly throwing stones at Israelis.

The detentions came as the latest arrests in an ongoing crackdown on Palestinian children by Israeli police in East Jerusalem, as Palestinian communities in the occupied city have begun to feel the impact of Israeli legislation passed between 2014 and 2015 increasing penalties for rock throwing, which allows for stone-throwers to receive a 20-year prison sentence where intent to harm could be proven, and 10 years where it could not.