Hashem Alagha
WHAT HAPPENED
Hashem Alagha, a 20-year-old U.S. citizen born and raised in the Chicago suburb of Lombard, Illinois, was detained early on February 8, 2024, when Israeli soldiers raided his family's shelter in al-Mawasi, a coastal area near Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip that Israel's military had designated a safe zone. According to his cousin Yasmeen Elagha and reporting by the Associated Press and CNN, soldiers broke down the door before dawn, tied up and blindfolded the women and girls, and took away Hashem, his 18-year-old brother Borak, their Canadian father and other male relatives. The brothers, dual American-Canadian citizens, were transferred to Ashkelon prison inside Israel and held without charge on Israeli suspicion of assisting senior Hamas officials, claims the family and their attorney rejected as baseless. The State Department confirmed the detentions and repeatedly sought consular access, but the brothers remained held for weeks.
TESTIMONY
“These unverified claims, which have zero evidence, are nothing but a flimsy attempt by Israel to avoid accountability for unjustly and arbitrarily detaining two US citizens.” — Maria Kari, attorney for the Alagha family
SOURCES
DEMAND ACCOUNTABILITY FOR
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