A CHILD psychotherapist working for an Edinburgh charity is allegedly being held in an Israeli prison after being arrested by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
Mohammad el Sharif, who works for Firefly International, was taken from Gaza in November last year, and concerns for his wellbeing are growing.
It has been reported that the father of three was separated from his family and taken to the Sde Teiman prison in the Negev desert.
El Sharif has “no links to Hamas” and was in Gaza as the director of a child trauma clinic that was funded and supported by Firefly International and two other UK charities.
Firefly International is a charity based on Dublin Street in New Town, which supports children affected by war across the world.
They aim to provide children with opportunities for education, whilst helping them heal from the horrific experiences they may have had.
The children’s mental health clinic that el Sharif was working for was forced to close after the attacks by Hamas on southern Israel in October 2023.
Soon after that it was bombed, and the Firefly team managed to keep contact with El Sharif, its director, until late November last year.
Jane Salmonson, director of Firefly International, said at the time: “He and his family were with a group of others who were all on the move, yet again, walking from Gaza City westwards to a supposedly safer area.
“Soldiers stopped them at a checkpoint, separated women and children on one side of the road, men on the other, and took all the men away, Mohammad among them.
“His wife Alaa, and the three little boys, are now without him, starving, homeless and desperately worried about him”.
She also said: “It is difficult to sleep at night thinking of my former colleague, a child psychotherapist who has been incarcerated at Sde Teiman since November, being tortured, abused and starved.
“The only hope I can cling on to is that Mohammad and all other detainees will be released.
“The sheer scale, extent and depth of the cruelty inflicted on the Palestinian people, including children, in this conflict, is beyond belief.”
A ceasefire deal made between Israel and Hamas began last week, with the first stage set to last six weeks, on the condition of the release of around 33 Israeli hostages and a possible 1,000 Palestinian prisoners.
