October 7th, 2007
A local boy has been detained and later arrested by the Israeli Occupation Force (IOF) on this day in Tel Rumeida, Hebron, for carrying a bag containing a drawn swastika as well as drawings of weapons and Hamas; pictures of weapons were also supposedly found in the boy’s backpack. The incident began at approximately 1:30 p.m. when two soldiers, at the checkpoint below the illegal settlement of Tel Rumeida, found a swastika drawn on the boy’s backpack. After questioning him and taking his backpack, the boy was told by the soldiers to come back with his parents.
The boy returned without his parents at approximately 3:00 p.m. where the soldiers then detained the boy and repeatedly slapped him in the face. The soldiers then found another swastika clearly drawn in a notebook found in the backpack. The boy was put in a stress position, where the soldiers then placed the notebook with the swastika clearly visible in front of the boy.
A half an hour after the boy was put into a stress position, Temporary International Presence in Hebron (TIPH) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) were at the scene. The boy remained in the stress position, despite it being a clear breach of the Geneva conventions. The soldiers then explained to the international observers that the boy’s backpack contained drawings of weapons of weapons and Hamas, as well as photographs of weapons that the soldiers claimed could be classified.
Moments later the boy was taken up to Tel Rumeida settlement after being blindfolded and handcuffed, where TIPH said they were not allowed to go through. Around two and a half hours later the boy was then placed into the back of a Border Police jeep, and taken away from the area.
Later that night he was released.