Born from smuggled sperms, Palestinian children blocked from meeting exiled fathers | World News

Several Palestinian detainees are awaiting a reunion with their families, even after being released from Israeli prison in 2025 as part of a prisoner exchange programme with Hamas.A few of them also have children, counting the days to meet them for the first time.  Five-year-old Akram and two-year-old Julia were born out of sperm smuggled out of an Israeli prison where their father, Amjad-al-Najjar, was detained for 10 years. They never met Amjad during his imprisonment due to Israeli limitations on visitation rights.Both Amjad and his children dreamt of a reunion and starting afresh with a complete family after he was granted freedom in 2025. However, he was deported to Egypt soon after.
And now, Israeli travel restrictions have kept their hopes on hold. Amjad remains stuck in exile in Egypt while his family is trapped in the West Bank, phone calls being the only thread of connection between the two.
“A significant part of this freedom remained incomplete because the first meeting with my family didn’t happen as I had imagined,” Al Jazeera quoted Amjad as saying. “That’s when I felt that the joy wasn’t complete and that the road to regaining a normal life was still long,” he told Al Jazeera.
“One of the hardest things I went through was becoming a father during my imprisonment. It’s an experience that carries immense joy mixed with profound pain, because I wasn’t present at the moment my children were born. I followed the news of their arrival into the world from behind the walls, without seeing them, holding them, or experiencing their first moments,” Al Jazeera quoted him as saying.
Amjad said that though they understand the matters transcend a complex political reality, they believe that “the real solution must guarantee family reunification as a fundamental right, not an exception”, reported Al Jazeera.Story continues below this ad
Ten-year-old Bushra, also conceived from smuggled sperm from Israeli prison, keeps in touch with her father through regular video calls.
Her father Ahmed Hamed has also been deported to Egypt after spending 22 years in Israeli jail.
Bushra’s mother Inas tried to travel to Cairo several times to meet her husband but was denied permission Israeli authorities every time. Bushra and her aunt were finally able to travel to Egypt to meet him, but were detained for interrogation on their return to the West Bank.
“My son, Baraa, was just a few months old when his father was arrested,” Al Jazeera quoted Inas as saying. Twenty-two-year-old Baraa is getting married soon, but his father couldn’t be there on this occasion to celebrate. “…his father is not with us, and we cannot travel to see him,” Inas said.Story continues below this ad
Baraa also tried to meet his father several times, but Israeli authorities sent him back each time from the Karameh border between the West Bank and Jordan. “This situation is truly appalling. We were happy about his release, but the joy is incomplete; it’s only half a release,” Al Jazeera quoted Inas as saying. “We will try to file a petition with the Israeli Supreme Court to obtain permission to travel, but we don’t know if they will approve it or not,” she added.
Even death could not reunite
Poignant stories also emerge of families denied access to the graves of their loved ones. One such was of Riyad al-Amour, 57, who died while in exile in Egypt after spending 23 years in Israeli jail.
His wife had travelled from Bethlehem to Jordan before his release to avoid the complications of travel restrictions thereafter, and met him after a long wait. But his five children were denied permission.
His brother Majed said Riyad, who had a pacemaker fitted, fell ill within days of his release and slipped into a coma. Five months later he died in a hospital in April this year.Story continues below this ad
“He was never to see or hug any of his 12 grandchildren… His son and I tried to travel to see him, but we were prevented,” Al Jazeera quoted Majed told Al Jazeera. “The last time I saw him was during my visit to him in prison in 2022. We were close friends, not just brothers, but the Israeli occupation prevented us from seeing each other.”
Speaking of the situation the Palestinians are trapped in, Majed told Al Jazeera: “This is our sad, short story as Palestinians – even after his death, we are denied the right to stand at his grave. There is no justification for preventing a family from seeing their son after years of separation, but it is the occupation that wants to keep us living in constant humiliation.”
What statics say
According to the Palestinian Prisoners Club, as many as 383 Palestinian prisoners were deported from the West Bank during the prisoner exchange programme between Israel and Hamas in 2025.
Even as there are no reliable data on the number of families who were prevented the Israeli authorities from travelling to see their exiled loved ones, the testimonies from Palestinians show that at least a hundred of families in the West Bank have been hit these restrictions.Story continues below this ad
The Center for the Defense of Liberties and Civil Rights (Hurriyat) recorded over 8,700 travel bans for Palestinians in the West Bank from 2014 to 2025. They include 691 women, a major chunk of them former prisoners and their families.
Shawan Jabarin, the director of Al-Haq human rights organisation, told Al Jazeera that Israel’s policy of separation is a violation of the right of the released prisoners to see their families.