A Palestinian family whose home was raided in a pre-dawn attack on Wednesday said that Israeli troops ransacked the home, destroying furniture and stealing thousands of dollars worth of cash and valuables.The Israeli military told reporters with the Ma’an News Agency that they had ‘investigated the claim’ and ‘found no conclusive evidence’ that the theft occurred.
But the Karaki family, whose home was invaded by dozens of soldiers while the family was asleep in bed, claims otherwise. For four hours, between 1 and 5 am on Wednesday, the troops attacked the home – first blowing up the door, then going from room to room tossing belongings around and using police dogs to tear the home apart.
The soldiers then abducted 18-year old Hilmi Karaki, and took him to an unknown destination.
In addition, the family claims that the soldiers who attacked the parents’ bedroom stole over $5,000 in cash, and jewelry worth more than $2,000.
Israeli soldiers have been accused on hundreds of occasions of pocketing Palestinians’ cash and valuables during the illegal home raids that take place nightly throughout the West Bank.
But no soldiers have ever been charged with these thefts – usually it is the word of an Israeli soldier against that of a Palestinian civilian, and Israeli courts are required to give more weight to testimony by soldiers.
Hilmi Karaki was just one of 31 Palestinians abducted from his home during the night raids all over the West Bank on Wednesday morning.
