Israeli occupation forces stormed the town of Beit Kahil in Hebron at dawn on Wednesday, abducting three Palestinian sisters in a violent raid that left their families and children terrorized. The three women—Eman Abdel Mahdi Al-Zahour (36), Enas Abdel Mahdi Al-Zahour (25), and Afnan Abdel Mahdi Al-Zahour (23)—were forcibly taken to an undisclosed location after Israeli soldiers ransacked their homes without presenting any legal justification or arrest warrants.
Eyewitnesses reported that at least ten heavily armed Israeli soldiers, some masked, participated in the raid, which is part of an intensifying Israeli campaign targeting Palestinian civilians, particularly women and children. The arrests reflect Israel’s systematic policy of intimidation and collective punishment, aimed at breaking Palestinian families.
Family members revealed that Eman, a schoolteacher and mother of six, is already enduring immense hardship, as her husband has been imprisoned by Israeli authorities for the past 20 months in Nafha prison, and her son Abdullah is also being held in an Israeli detention facility. Afnan, also a teacher, was detained just hours after Israeli forces shut down the educational center where she worked. She is the mother of five children, including a three-month-old infant. Enas, the third sister, is a mother of one child and is in the early months of pregnancy, raising serious concerns for her safety and well-being in detention.
The arrests of the three sisters come amid a broader campaign of repression across the occupied West Bank. At the entrance to Al-Arroub refugee camp, Israeli soldiers continue to subject Palestinian civilians to degrading treatment, forcing men and women to stand in long queues at military checkpoints. Witnesses have reported that soldiers systematically photograph identity cards, conduct invasive searches of personal belongings, and even take pictures of Palestinian women as they hold up their IDs—practices that violate international human rights standards.
In another incident, Israeli forces shot and injured a Palestinian youth near a military gate east of Al-Ram, north of occupied Jerusalem, as part of Israel’s continued use of excessive force against civilians.
These escalations have drawn strong condemnation from human rights organizations, which describe the abduction of the three sisters as a flagrant violation of international law. The arrests of pregnant women and nursing mothers, as well as the detention of civilians without due process, directly contravene international conventions protecting women and children in conflict zones.
Calls are mounting for immediate intervention from the international community and UN bodies to pressure Israel into revealing the whereabouts of the three sisters, ensuring their immediate and unconditional release, and halting its ongoing campaign of mass arrests and repression against Palestinian families.
