The House the Arrests Emptied
Israeli forces arrested Iyad Barakat Awdah, 15, at his home in Anata on January 15, 2026. He has a seizure disorder that requires monitoring and medication he is not receiving in detention. His mother has heard nothing about his condition for nearly three months.
Iyad is the third member of the Awdah household Israel has taken. His father, the martyr Barakat Awdah, was killed and his body is still held by Israel. His sister Tasneem, 22, a law student months away from her degree, has been imprisoned since December 12, 2024.
Since 2022, courts, interrogation rooms, and administrative detention have shaped daily life inside the home.
After the arrest, Iyad spent two weeks under interrogation at Moscobiya. Israeli authorities then issued a four-month administrative detention order. The family appealed, and the order was reduced by one month. His mother is counting down to April 16, 2026.
She knows the date may not hold. Israeli military courts have stopped honoring their own confirmation rulings on administrative detention orders, and Iyad’s order can be renewed at any point.
His seizures worsen during Ramadan, and he needs medical tests including an EEG. He missed a follow-up hospital appointment because of the arrest. He requires constant monitoring and is barred from strenuous activity, including swimming, sports, and climbing. His mother asks how a body like his can survive inside an Israeli prison.
The family submitted his medical file to the prison administration. They have received no information about his health or the conditions of his detention.
Tasneem does not know her brother has been arrested. Israel held her in isolation for four months at Damon prison. At a court hearing, her mother was shocked by how thin she had become from the starvation policy inside the prisons. Four months on, the family does not know her current condition. They know only that she is counting the days to her release in May, asking for her favorite home-cooked meals and the sweets she has been missing.
Iyad is a tenth-grade student who wants to train as an auto electrician. When Israeli forces took him, he sent his mother a message: tell the school to wait for me. Keep my seat.
