Israeli court extends detention of Palestinian teen who slapped soldiers
An Israeli court extended the detention of Ahed al-Tamimi for 10 days on Wednesday after she was arrested on Tuesday over a film in which she appeared to be confronting two soldiers, in Al-Nabi Saleh, a small village in the occupied West Bank.
The Israeli court where the 16-year-old Palestinian girl appeared is located at the Ofer military base near Ramallah, near the village.
The Israeli army on Wednesday also arrested Ahed's cousin, Nour Naji al-Tamimi, 21, who also appeared in the video that went viral on Israeli social media and showed Ahed slapping, kicking and hitting two Israeli soldiers armed with M16 guns, helmets, and body armour.
The Palestinian teen was seized at dawn on Tuesday, when Israeli soldiers raided her family house and searched it, taking personal laptops, mobile phones and electronic equipment belonging to the al-Tamimi family. The family alleged the soldiers beat them during the raid.
Ahed's mother, Nariman al-Tamimi, an activist against Israeli settlements, was also arrested later on Tuesday.
The video of Ahed and Nour was apparently filmed on a mobile phone on 15 December in front of al-Tamimi's house. It does not show any serious harm caused to the soldiers.
Naftali Bennett, the Israeli education minister, told Army Radio on Tuesday morning that the two Palestinian girls, Ahed and Nour, involved in the fracas "should finish their lives in prison".
Bassem al-Tamimi, Ahed's father and an activist opposing the Israeli Halamish settlement in Al-Nabi Saleh, confirmed his daughter's arrest on Facebook on Tuesday.
"The IOF [Israeli Occupation Forces] raided my home and arrested my daughter Ahed Tamimi after the Israeli media attacked her after she stopped the soldier in front of our house when he shot a child in the head," he wrote.
Mohammed al-Tamimi, Ahed's cousin, was shot in the head with a rubber bullet on 15 December, the family told AFP.
The 14-year-old boy, who was protesting against Trump's announcement on recognising Jerusalem as Israel's capital when he was shot, was placed into a medically induced coma.
Al-Nabi Saleh is a village of 600 Palestinian inhabitants surrounded by the illegal Halamish settlement. It is known among pro-Palestinian activists for the weekly march, since 2010, against the Israeli confiscation of village lands.
The arrests of the al-Tamimi family are the latest of more than 450 Palestinians detained since 6 December when Trump made his announcement, sparking widespread protests and worldwide condemnation.
The family are prominent campaigners against the Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
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