Palestinian poet detained by IDF released after international outcry

Abu Toha was born in the Al-Shati refugee camp in 1993 and lived most of his life in the Gaza Strip

Israel says he released an award-winning Palestinian poet after reports of his detention sparked an international outcry.

Mosab Abu Toha, who won the American Book Award for his debut anthology, Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear: Poems from Gaza disappeared on Sunday as they fled south into the Gaza Strip along with thousands of others, his brother said.

“The army captured Mosab as he arrived at the checkpoint, moving from north to south » the author's brother Hamza Abu Toha said on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Tuesday.

An Israeli Army spokesman told The Telegraph that Abu Toha was detained for questioning as Israeli troops investigated reports of «a number of interactions between several civilians and terrorist organizations inside the Gaza Strip» but was later released.

It is believed that he was released. was taken to Israel pending an investigation, but has now been reunited with his wife and three children in southern Gaza.

The news of Abu Toha's release comes amid a chorus of calls from international groups demanding his release.

In a statement on Tuesday, PEN International said it was «deeply concerned» by reports of the arrest of Abu Tohi, who is also the founder of Gaza's first English-language library.

«We join calls demanding his whereabouts and reasons his detention,” the message says.

“New destruction. What can stop this?”

The New Yorker magazine, for which Abu Toha wrote a first-person account of life during the Israeli bombing of Gaza City last month, also called for his safe return.

Abu Toha, who recently returned to Gaza after studying in USA, has become one of the territory's most celebrated authors.

Earlier this year, Abu Toha was also named a finalist for the prestigious US National Book Critics Circle Poetry Award for his debut. Collection.

In an article published by The Atlantic this month, Abu Toha described a childhood marred by war and reflected on the fact that his young children are now going through the same experience.

“My youngest child, born in America in May 2021, is experiencing the third wave of Israeli bombing,” he wrote.

“Not only can he and his brother and sister smell death all around them; but they also lost their home in Beit Lahia 10 days ago.»

Abu Toha called for a ceasefire shortly before his arrest.

«More death, more destruction. What can stop this? Please stop this immediately,” he wrote on social networks.