‘Shhh or I’ll shoot you’: family of jailed Christian woman tell of Israeli raid

The Israeli troops arrived at about 4am last Saturday to take 23-year-old Layan Nasir away at gunpoint from her parents’ home in the West Bank town of Birzeit. There was no arrest warrant or charges, and her parents haven’t been notified of where she is held.

The only Palestinian Christian woman currently in Israeli detention, her case has been raised by the archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby. “I’m shocked and deeply concerned,” he said in a post on X. “Please pray for Layan’s safety and swift release.”

A statement claimed she resisted arrest, and “confronted the forces”. The only confrontation described by her parents was asking male soldiers to leave her room while she dressed.

Layan’s detention has been extended until 14 April “for the purpose of considering the issuance of an administrative order by the commander of the Central Command,” the statement added. There was no response to questions about where she was being held.

Prisoners’ rights organisation Addameer said that about 1,320 people were being held in administrative detention before then; by March this year, that had “surged to approximately 3,558, including about 40 children, and more than 19 women.”

Conditions have also deteriorated sharply. The far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, even before the war said he wanted harsher conditions for Palestinian prisoners.