Palestinian family awaits release of badly burned woman, held since 2015
The family of Israa Jaabis, a 37-year-old Palestinian woman held in an Israeli prison since 2015, is eagerly awaiting her release, scheduled for Saturday, according to her sister, although there has been no official confirmation.
Jaabis, 32, was arrested in October 2015 with burns over half of her body after she and her family say a faulty cylinder of cooking gas burst into flames in front of an East Jerusalem checkpoint.
Israeli authorities charged Jaabis with attempting to detonate a bomb in order to harm Israeli soldiers. She was sentenced to 11 years in prison.
While imprisoned, Jaabis has lived with pain and struggled to receive adequate medical care, according to her lawyer, Lea Tselmel. An appeal against her sentence so that she could be released for treatment was refused by Israeli authorities.
"God willing, we will see her in the next few hours," Israa's son, Motasem, told Middle East Eye's correspondent Latifeh Abdellatif at the Jaabis family home in Jerusalem.
"I will see my mother free after eight years. I pray for her freedom and all Palestinian prisoners. Ever since my mother was arrested, she has been denied medical treatment. When I first see her I will hug her and kiss her. And I will place a flower crown on her head."
"We're impatiently waiting for my sister to be freed," Rola Jaabis, Israa's sister, told MEE.
"Every time we saw her during prison visits we realised how much of an exceptional person she is. Ever since she was a young girl, she was special. She is a very selfless person.
"I can't describe our feelings as a family, especially my parents. I can't find the words. God only knows how much my parents have suffered."