RAMALLAH, Saturday, January 05, 2019 (WAFA) – The Israeli army told members of the Barghouti family from the village of Kobar, northwest of Ramallah, that they will be expelled to Jericho to the east of the West Bank if their son, Assem, does not turn himself in to the army, according to a member of the family.

Israel believes Assem was responsible for attacking and killing two Israeli soldiers near Ramallah on December 13, a day after soldiers shot and killed his brother, Saleh, in an ambush north of Ramallah in what his family charged was extrajudicial execution since Saleh was seen taken alive and unharmed from a car he was in.

The soldiers claimed Saleh, whom it claimed was responsible for shooting and injuring seven Israeli settlers days earlier near Ramallah, was shot and critically injured and later died of his wounds.

According to Saleh and Assem’s mother, a large army force raided their home early in the morning on Saturday, interrogated her and told her she has three days to turn her son, Assem, in or the entire family will be expelled to Jericho.

She said the soldiers also detained her youngest son, Mohammad, 17, and her brother, Lutfi Barghouti.

The mother said she is currently alone at home after her son, Saleh, was killed, and her husband and all her sons have been detained. The husband and one son were detained the day after the attack and are still held in custody at the Russian Compound detention center in West Jerusalem after a court has remanded them last week for the fourth straight time in one month.

Kobar residents confronted the soldiers when they raided the village to arrest the Barghouti members. The soldiers fired tear gas at the residents, who pelted the soldiers with stone, causing suffocation cases but no serious injuries.

The army has been conducting almost daily raids into Kobar as well as setting up checkpoints at its entrances as part of its collective punishment policy.

M.K.