'It's getting worse': Bethlehem's young men and boys fear a violent future

The West Bank town, like much of the occupied territory, has not been spared an Israeli army crackdown

Seif Darwish, 14, is the youngest Palestinian detainee to be released from Israeli prison during a temporary truce in the Israel-Gaza war. Jihan Abdalla / The National

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Back at home after his recent release from Israeli prison, Seif Darwish, 14, sits on his unmade bed wearing a grey hoodie as the call to prayer from a mosque echoes through the empty streets of the Aida refugee camp in Bethlehem.

Seif can barely maintain eye contact as he speaks, preferring instead to cast his eyes down at his prison-issue flip-flops.

“There was hardly anything to eat, just sandwiches – I was hungry a lot,” the teenager says of his time in prison, which ended last month when he became the youngest Palestinian detainee to be released in the exchange of detainees for hostages between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

Seif was detained by Israeli forces for the first time in January this year. He was released the next day after his mother signed a pledge that he would not throw stones at the Israeli soldiers who watch over the camp. Palestinians often accuse these troops of using excessive force.

In May, he lost the tip of his left index finger and sustained lasting nerve damage in his leg after being hit by shrapnel during a clash with soldiers.

Two months later, he was detained again, charged this time in court with throwing rocks.

According to Defence for Children Palestine, hundreds of Palestinian children, some as young as 12, are detained and prosecuted each year under Israel’s military court system. The most common charge is stone-throwing.

Seif declines to offer much detail about his time in prison, saying he preferred not to be reminded of it. “I was the youngest one there – that made me happy,” is all he would say.

“It's a good thing they didn’t forget about me,” he says, referring to his inclusion on the list of prisoners whose release was demanded by Hamas.

Despite his trauma, there are signs that Seif is holding on to his hopes for the future. His mother Sabreen, who bustled about the room pouring coffee and smoking cigarettes, handed out small chocolate cakes that her son baked. He wants to become a confectioner, she says.

Seif Darwish says he worries about getting apprehended once more by Israel. Jihan Abdalla / The National

Unlike her son, Sabreen has much to say, describing how she helped start a social media campaign to add him to the list of prisoners whose release Hamas was demanding. Seif was quickly added after a hashtag calling for the freedom of Palestine's youngest detainee went viral on TikTok.

Sabreen fears Seif's freedom might be short-lived as the Israelis could simply apprehend him once more, which is why she has barely let him leave the house. Another of her sons, Adam, 20, has been in Israeli prison detention since last year where he is waiting to be charged.

Clashes with Palestinian youths have been a feature of Israel's decades-long occupation of the West Bank, but the Israeli response has become much harsher this year, especially after October 7. A surprise attack that day saw Hamas militants from Gaza kill about 1,200 people, mostly Israeli civilians, and kidnap about 240 others.

The attacks resulted in an Israeli military campaign in Gaza that has killed more than 18,200 people in the coastal enclave and thrust the 75-year-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict to the forefront of the international agenda once again.

Israel also stepped up its military operations in the West Bank, where 275 Palestinians have been killed since October 7, health officials say.

One of those affected is Bilal Afendi, 35, an NGO worker and shopkeeper who is expecting his first child. He was supposed to migrate to Norway but now uses a wheelchair after being shot by Israeli troops.

Bilal Afendi, 35, says he will spend about 10 more days in the hospital before starting rehabilitation treatment on his arm. Jihan Abdalla / The National

Bilal was on his way to open his shop in Bethlehem's Dheishe refugee camp at 7am when he was shot three times by Israeli soldiers during a raid.

One bullet passed straight through his hip. Two others, special “dumdum” bullets that expand on impact, fractured bones in his left arm.

“It’s a difficult reality we are living in, and it’s getting worse,” he says, sitting in a wheelchair at a rehabilitation hospital in the West Bank village of Beit Jala, just a few kilometres from where Seif lives with his mother.

He unfurls the brown blanket shielding him from the cold to reveal a bandaged left arm with metal rods protruding underneath.

Despite his pain, he is focused on the suffering caused by Israel's war in Gaza.

“It’s all tied together, it’s one piece. Gaza is part of our national identity. It is one of our national symbols,” he says.

Like Seif, Bilal has been detained twice before, serving about four years in total on various charges, including organising protests.

His brothers have all been detained or injured at some point amid Israeli-Palestinian violence.

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