Why is a Palestinian American boy, 16, still in an Israeli prison?

TAYBEH, West Bank — Three military vehicles roared to a halt outside Zaher Ibrahim’s elegant two-story house in this village in the occupied West Bank.

It was 3:30 in the morning on February 16, and family members said about two dozen Israeli soldiers ran up and knocked on the door. When Ibrahim answered the door, they asked for his youngest son, Mohammed Zaher Ibrahim, then 15, and a Palestinian American from Florida, as did the rest of the family.

Moments later, Mohammed was blindfolded, his hands zipped behind his back and pushed into one of the vehicles, family members said.

“We didn’t even know what it was,” his father said.

According to Muhammad’s statement to a lawyer from the children’s rights organization International Children’s Defense-Palestine, soldiers beat him with rifle butts while Muhammad was being transported for questioning.

Ibrahim called his friends and they assured him that Israeli raids were part of life in the West Bank. They said his son would spend the night there, maybe another day, and then be released.

More than eight months later, Mohammed remains in prison.

It joins hundreds of Palestinian children detained in Israel, according to human rights groups; Nearly half of these children are held without charge or trial in a system of incarceration that critics say is designed to work against them.

Mohammed, who was later transferred to Ofer, an Israeli military prison in the West Bank where allegations of mistreatment of detainees is common, is accused of throwing rocks at Israeli vehicles twice, damaging one of them, according to a charge sheet obtained by The Times.

Israel considers stone-throwing terrorism and authorizes soldiers to open fire on those who do so; Palestinians, on the other hand, see this practice as a symbolic way of fighting against Israeli occupation.

It remains unclear what evidence the Israeli government has to support the allegations against Mohammed, but he denies the accusations and is awaiting a court date. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

The family splits its time between Tampa and Mazraa al-Sharqiya, home to many Palestinian Americans who immigrated to the United States but chose to maintain strong ties to their villages.

After finishing his school year in the Middle East, Muhammad was supposed to return to Tampa and apprentice in the family’s ice cream business.

Instead, while Mohammed remained in detention (he turned 16 in prison), Ibrahim took leave from work and remained in the West Bank to assist with legal defence. With the help of relatives in the US, he is waging a pressure campaign on the Trump administration to release his son.

Ibrahim, who looked shocked as he sat on his couch last morning, spoke with quiet anger at the sight of the United States abandoning its citizens.

“My son is a US citizen. I am a US citizen. But our passports do not matter,” he said. He added of the US government: “If they wanted Muhammad gone, they could have done it.”

Zaher Ibrahim (left) walks overlooking his family’s land on the edge of the West Bank town of Mazraa al-Sharqiya.

Following the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023, Israel banned visits and phone calls with prisoners. Therefore, Ibrahim relies on reports from US Embassy officials regarding Muhammad’s condition. They reported that he had lost a significant amount of his weight and was suffering from scabies, but that the Israel Prison Service provided treatment.

In his statement, Mohammed said the food in the prison was “extremely inadequate” and described the meager rations as “small pieces of bread” and “undercooked, dry rice”. Dinner is not served. He said inmates were allowed out into the courtyard for 40 minutes in the morning, but most of that time was wasted trying to use one of the six showers available. Children are placed in a room with only four beds, and some are forced to sleep on thin mattresses on the floor.

Last week, 27 U.S. lawmakers, including Sen. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.), sent a letter to U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, saying they were concerned about reports of mistreatment of Palestinian prisoners and feared for Mohammed’s safety, following reports that a 17-year-old Palestinian died in an Israeli prison this year. They demanded a response by Monday.

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee examines a painting of Jerusalem during a visit to the Israeli presidential residence in the city on September 15, 2025.

(Nathan Howard / Pool Photo)

“As we have been told repeatedly, ‘the State Department has no higher priority than the safety and security of U.S. citizens abroad,'” the letter says. “We share this view and urge you to fulfill this responsibility by contacting the Israeli government directly to ensure the speedy release of this American child.”

Ibrahim said Mohammed was supposed to appear before a judge every 45 days, but so far all court dates have ended the same way: with adjournment.

Mona Ibrahim holds a childhood photo of her son, Mohammed Zaher Ibrahim, now 16, who is held in an Israeli prison.

Even though Ibrahim knows that he will waste a day in the courthouse and that it will be almost meaningless, he insists on attending every hearing, “just so Mohammed knows that someone is coming to that court.”

But these days he can’t stand seeing his son’s face on the video link from the courtroom.

“I try not to look because it’s killing me,” he said. “The worst part is, it tells you what America is like. That’s what hurts… your government supports Israel with bombs and money, but it doesn’t have the authority to say, ‘Let the father visit his son’ or ‘Get a phone call.'”

Mohammed’s last court appearance was on Wednesday, where there was hope of reaching a deal that would free him. However, hours after Ibrahim attended the hearing, there was little news other than Mohammed’s detention.

This is not the first disaster to befall the family in the West Bank. Palestinian officials said this year that Israeli settlers beat Mohammed’s 20-year-old cousin, Sayfollah Kamel Musallet, to death in the nearby town of Sinjil.

Israeli settlers await the return of freed hostage Avinatan Or in Shiloh, a settlement in the occupied West Bank, on October 21, 2025.

(John Wessels/AFP/Getty Images)

At least six Americans have been killed in attacks by Israeli settlers or the Israeli army in the West Bank since October 7, 2023. Although both Mazraa al-Sharqiya and Musallet’s father, Kamel, who spent time in Tampa, were arrested, no arrests were made. pushing for action From the US government. He says some Americans face a two-tiered justice system that prioritizes their lives over others.

“As an American, we are programmed to know that if anything happens, the government will help you. But because you are Palestinian, there is no responsibility,” Kamel Musallet said.

Huckabee, an ardent supporter of the settler movement, visited Kamel Musallet in July and called his son’s murder an “act of terrorism.” He called for an “aggressive investigation” by the Israeli government.

Kamel Musallet hoped that Huckabee could secure Muhammad’s release so that “something good would come out of Sayfollah’s death.”

But more than five months later, Ibrahim said those words were not followed by action.

“Speech is free, so you can say whatever you want,” he said. “But was justice served? No.”

The family said a US official was assigned to meet with the Israeli government about Mohammed’s case.

Zaher Ibrahim, seen at his family’s West Bank estate, sought help from the Trump administration as he worked to secure the release of his son Mohammed from an Israeli prison.

Mohammed’s arrest and Musallet’s death came as the areas around their village saw an unprecedented increase in settler attacks.

One morning in October, at the start of the olive harvest, Ibrahim joined other villagers to visit family land to which they had been virtually barred from access by the Hilltop Youth, an extremist movement of Israeli settlers that routinely occupy West Bank land and attack Palestinians.

Ibrahim and his friends approached Sincil and maneuvered their SUV around rocks placed on the road. As we continued to move through the field, members of Hilltop Youth emerged from the nearby olive groves; Some were carrying stones and metal poles.

A journalist in front of the car lifted his phone to take a video and said he was American; The settlers kept their distance until the car moved away. Some threw stones after him.

In response to the joke, İbrahim said in a humorless voice, “I wonder if they will sue for this?” he said.