Her son, Ibrahim Hamed, said that Ismail's family lawyer told them that she was being held in the Palestinian women's prison called Dimon. The Aga's family members do not know the whereabouts of their relatives. The State Department said Thursday it was aware of the reports but could not comment further due to privacy concerns.
The Israeli army confirmed Ismail’s arrest on charges of “incitement on social media” in a statement to The Washington Post on Wednesday. “The suspects arrested in the operation were transferred to security forces for further interrogation,” the IDF said, without providing further information about Ismail’s alleged activity on social media.
In response to a separate request, an IDF spokesman said the army was verifying the report about the raid in Mawasi and did not immediately respond to a question about the whereabouts of the two brothers.
The arrests come amid increasing tension in relations between the Biden administration and the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. This week, Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Israel said the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7 was not “a license to dehumanize others when the people of Gaza had nothing to do with the attacks.”
“We are just processing this information,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Thursday of the detention of American citizens. We want to know more about the reasons here, and I'm sure our ambassador, Jack Liu, is looking into the 'situation' and 'trying to get more information and context here'.
The Gaza Ministry of Health said on Thursday that at least 27,708 people have been killed in Gaza and 67,147 others have been injured since the war began.
Since the October 7 attack on Israel, which killed 1,200 people, hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Palestinians have been detained in Gaza under what advocates say is a deliberately vague legal framework that captures combatants and civilians alike.
Meanwhile, Israel has launched a wave of arrests of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, arresting about 7,000 Palestinians since October 7, according to the Ramallah-based Palestinian Prisoners' Club.
In both cases, Palestinians detained under this system described abuses, including torture.
The International Committee of the Red Cross issued a statement on Thursday criticizing Israel for suspending visits to Palestinian detainees and saying denying them access is a violation of international humanitarian law.
The humanitarian organization said in a statement: “Wherever and whoever the detainees are, they must be treated with humanity and dignity at all times.” She added that her delegates had been visiting Palestinian detainees for more than 55 years before October 7, when visits were suspended “until further notice.”
In both cases this week involving US citizens, family members said the homes were targeted in early morning raids. Ismail's family told The Washington Post that Israeli forces stormed the 46-year-old woman's home in the West Bank on Monday.
In the case of the two brothers, their cousin Yasmin Elagha, a law student in Chicago, told The Washington Post that her phone rang around 9:30 p.m. Wednesday. Her aunt was calling from Gaza. She was crying and her voice was shaking. Her aunt, Samar Al-Agha, told her that IDF forces broke down the door of the house they were staying in in Mawasi while people were sleeping.
She said that soldiers tied up women and children and took men of military age, including her sons Burak and Hashim.
Four other male relatives in the house were also arrested during the raid, her aunt told Elaga, including her two uncles, one of whom is mentally disabled.
Representative Troy A. said: Carter (D-Los Angeles) said he was “deeply concerned” by the arrest of Ishmael, a resident of Louisiana's 2nd Congressional District.
“I have been in contact with the US Embassy and State Department to inquire why an American citizen is being detained. I am praying for her safety,” Carter said Tuesday in a social media post.
Elaga shared an email she received early Thursday from the US Embassy in Jerusalem, which said only that it was “communicating with the appropriate authorities regarding the matter” of the brothers.
“We are aware of these reports and are currently seeking additional information, but I do not have any additional information to share and will not be able to at this stage due to privacy considerations,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Vedant Patil told reporters on Thursday. He asked about the reported arrests.
As of late last year, about 50 American citizens remained in Gaza despite frantic efforts to leave. Elaga said that her family has been trying for months to include their names on the list of people allowed to leave Gaza. Her grandparents were recently able to leave the besieged enclave, but the rest of her family remains trapped.
Israel has also intensified its military activity in the West Bank since October 7, including a raid on a hospital last month by Israeli security forces disguised as medics and patients.
In January, Tawfiq Abdul-Jabbar, a 17-year-old US citizen also from Louisiana, was fatally shot in the head in the West Bank. In a statement that shed little light on the circumstances surrounding his death, Israeli police said an off-duty law enforcement officer, a soldier and an Israeli settler were all involved in “the discharge of a firearm… directed at a perceived threat.”
Miriam Berger and Evan Hill contributed to this report.
