Seren Murphy, 43, was relaxing at home on a Saturday night when she got a message on the WhatsApp family group chat from her mum.
She’d been arrested by Israel.
Seren’s mum, Máire Ní Mhurchú, 70, flew to the occupied West Bank in early May to do what she has done for 20 years – help Palestinians.
But no one heard from the mum-of-three, grandmother-of-eight and great-grandmother-of-two for days after she was detained and threatened with deportation on Saturday, an order she is fighting in the courts.
Seren, a librarian in Swansea, told Metro: ‘How do I know she’s not dead in a ditch somewhere?
‘When you look at what’s happening in Gaza, the fact that they have murdered aid workers and medical staff, what’s to stop them from bumping off a little old lady?’
As much as Seren’s phone has been ‘red-hot’ recently from her frantically checking it, she knows her mum will be fine.
She said: ‘My mum is my hero. She’s got the biggest heart of anybody I’ve ever met – Palestine is part of her life and soul.’
Almost every autumn, Mhurchú, who goes by D Murphy, goes to the West Bank to help pick olives off the terraced hillsides.
But the olives were unharvested when she landed last month.
Seren said: ‘The joy is disappearing. They’re living in fear… Some of the villages she’s been to have been bulldozed to the ground. Some people she knows are dead.’
One village is Khalet Al-Daba’a in Masafer Yatt, home to 14 families before Israeli forces demolished 90% of the homes and infrastructure.
Murphy, from Douglas in Cork, was joined by her friend Susanne Björk on May 28 to volunteer for the International Solidarity Movement (ISM).
Björk, 48, told Metro Israeli settlers she filmed ‘terrorising’ Palestinian villagers stole her phone on May 30. She reported them to the police.
But at 6.30am the next day, masked soldiers kicked down their door and gave them 10 seconds to get out.
Israeli settlers serving as reservists reportedly told them to leave as they were in a ‘military area’ before police arrested them.
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Björk said: ‘But the police and soldiers the day before had not mentioned this. How are we to know we were not supposed to be there?’
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‘If we don’t zip-tie them, they’ll run’
Inside the station, they saw two Palestinian boys, aged about 13.
Björk recalled: ‘An officer told me: “These are terrorists. If we don’t zip-tie them, they’ll run.” We were in the middle of an illegal settlement. There was nowhere for them to go.’
Israel has classified the area as a military zone since the 1980s, complicating residents’ ability to remain. Khalet Al-Daba’a is inactive, according to a 2022 map.
At a Sunday hearing in Tel Aviv, the court accused them of being in a military zone and threatening soldiers and police.
Björk said: ‘Which is a ridiculous thing to say because these are heavily armed people and I’m a 48-year-old woman with a 70-year-old.’
After agreeing to board the next available flight, Björk was deported. Murphy is in Givon Prison and was denied counsel on Wednesday, ISM said.
Björk said: ‘I fear for D. She’s a 70-year-old woman in detention – we had to fight to use the toilet.’
‘I miss her every day, we all miss her’
On Wednesday, Seren’s aunt received a call – it was Murphy, saying she had not spoken with her lawyer since Monday.
Seren said: ‘I’m reassured knowing she’s still alive. It’s surreal to think that way about your mum.
‘But alongside those feelings is also anger at the fact we’re in this situation and what is happening every day in Palestine.’
Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking 250 people hostage.
Israel has killed nearly 54,700 Palestinians, mainly women and children.
ISM told Metro: ‘Israel labels indigenous Palestinians, their supporters and those who tell the truth about the genocide unfolding in occupied Palestine as criminals, uses force to silence and remove them from occupied Palestine.’
Ireland’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade told Metro officials are providing consular assistance.
It said: ‘As with all consular cases, the Department does not comment on the details of individual cases.’
The IDF, the Israel Police and Sweden’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs have been approached for comment.
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