Dozens of houses were entered by soldiers during the course of the day. The interiors of several homes were ransacked and badly damaged. In these house to house searches, Israeli forces pulled young men out of their homes en masse and detained nearly 100 in the village school. At the school, the youth were kept handcuffed and blindfolded, and several were beaten by soldiers. 15 boys were then arrested and taken to Huwarra military base on unknown charges.
These are several accounts gathered from villagers on the curfew, house occupations, and mass detention of Jayyous residents.
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One 20-year-old man who works as a nursing assistant was amongst those who were detained in the school and then taken to Huwarra. Israeli Forces came to his house at around 1:30am, and took him from his bed while he was sleeping. All of the rest of his family were put in one room as the soldiers searched the house.
The arrested man was taking medication at the time to treat intense pain in his stomach, and he had a doctor’s appointment scheduled later in the day that he was taken by the army. After he was taken from his home, soldiers returned three times to search the house. On each occasion, the soldiers refused all requests from his family to take his medication with them.
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Two brothers were also taken from their residence at 1:30am. The army forced all the men outside, and confined all the women to one room. After the family refused to be photographed by the soldiers, the father was beaten. The house was ransacked, and the main door was broken, along with one fan. One soldier also smashed out a window with the back of his gun. During the course of the curfew, soldiers would return three more times to search the house.
The soldiers handcuffed both brothers and forced them into an army jeep where they were driven to the school. Inside the jeep, one brother was blindfolded but the other was not and he was able to fully observe what happened once they arrived at the school.
The brothers were kept outside in the schoolyard with around 70 youth, most of whom were handcuffed and blindfolded. They were all forced to sit in a stress position on the ground. They were not allowed to speak to each other, and they were told that if they didn’t follow orders they would be shot. Several boys were beaten with batons and kicked. One boy was so badly beaten that his arm was broken by the soldiers. The classrooms inside the school were also damaged. Soldiers broke open most of the doors, smashed in windows, and broke several desks. The boys were taken one by one for interrogation inside the classrooms. None of the detainees were allowed to drink or eat anything while they were confined to the school. Finally, after several hours of this treatment, one brother was arrested along with 14 others. The other brother was then allowed to return home.
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One family had their house occupied from 2am until 7pm when the curfew was lifted. When the army came, the whole family of 12 were forced to stay in one room. One of the boys was detained and taken to the school, but was later released. The soldiers used the roof of the residence as a military outpost, where they took up sniper positions. Four Israeli flags were placed on the rooftop, from where they were clearly visible to most Jayyous residents during the course of the invasion. In contrast to their behaviour while occupying other residences, the soldiers did not break or steal anything in this house.
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