Palestinian Children Born From Smuggled Sperm Still Wait To Meet Freed Fathers

For years, Palestinian prisoners found an extraordinary way to become fathers despite being locked inside Israeli prisons. They secretly smuggled out their sperm.

Today, many of those children are growing up. Their fathers have finally been released as part of the 2025 Israel-Hamas prisoner exchange. But for many families, freedom has not meant reunion.

Several former detainees were deported to Egypt after their release, while their wives and children remain in the occupied West Bank, unable to travel because of Israeli restrictions.

In several of the 2025 Israel-Hamas exchange deals, Israel agreed to free certain long-serving Palestinian prisoners only on condition they be sent abroad rather than returned to the West Bank or Gaza, and deportation to Egypt (and onwards to third countries) was the mechanism for that.

Children They Have Never Held

Five-year-old Akram and two-year-old Julia know their father only through photographs and phone calls.

The siblings were conceived using sperm secretly smuggled out of prison while their father, Amjad al-Najjar, was serving a decade-long sentence in Israel. Because of strict visitation rules, he never met his children during those ten years behind bars.

When he was released in 2025, Amjad believed the separation was finally over. Instead, he was deported to Egypt, while his wife and children remained in the West Bank.

"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.

He described the pain of becoming a parent from inside a prison cell.

"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 his family understands the political realities surrounding their situation but believes that "the real solution must guarantee family reunification as a fundamental right, not an exception", according to Al Jazeera.

A Daughter Meets Her Father Through A Screen

Ten-year-old Bushra was also born using sperm smuggled from an Israeli prison.

Her father, Ahmed Hamed, spent 22 years in jail before being released and deported to Egypt.

Bushra's mother, Inas, repeatedly sought permission to travel to Cairo but said Israeli authorities denied every request. Bushra eventually managed to meet her father in Egypt with her aunt, but both were interrogated after returning to the West Bank.

The family's son, Baraa, was only an infant when his father was arrested. Now 22, he is preparing for his wedding without his father by his side.

"My son, Baraa, was just a few months old when his father was arrested," Al Jazeera quoted Inas as saying.

"...his father is not with us, and we cannot travel to see him," Inas said.

Baraa also tried several times to cross into Jordan through the Karameh border in hopes of seeing his father, but each attempt ended with Israeli authorities sending him back.

"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.

When Even Death Couldn't End The Separation

For some families, reunion never came.

Riyad al-Amour spent 23 years in an Israeli prison before being released into exile in Egypt.

His wife managed to reach him after travelling through Jordan before his release. Their five children, however, were never allowed to join him.

Only months after gaining his freedom, Riyad fell seriously ill. He slipped into a coma and died in an Egyptian hospital in April.

His family still could not be together.

"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," 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."

Even after Riyad's death, his relatives say they have been unable to visit his grave.

"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."

Hundreds Of Families Affected

According to the Palestinian Prisoners Club, 383 Palestinian prisoners released during the 2025 Israel-Hamas prisoner exchange were deported from the West Bank.

While there is no official figure for the number of families prevented from travelling to meet them, Palestinian testimonies suggest at least 100 families have been affected.

The Center for the Defence of Liberties and Civil Rights (Hurriyat) documented more than 8,700 travel bans imposed on Palestinians in the West Bank between 2014 and 2025, including 691 women, many of them former prisoners or their relatives.

Shawan Jabarin, director of the Al-Haq human rights organisation, told Al Jazeera that Israel's policy of separating released prisoners from their families violates their fundamental right to family reunification.