Kathy Castor cheers release of Tampa boy held in Israeli custody for last 9 months

U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor welcomed news that the Israeli government has released Tampa teenager Mohammed Ibrahim, who was jailed through most of 2025.

“Mohammed’s release is long overdue. His case underscores the need for fairness, due process and respect for human rights for every civilian — especially children — caught in conflict,” said Castor, a Tampa Democrat.

“I’m thankful for the advocates, civil rights groups, Members of Congress and countless others who pressed for Mohammed’s release. I pray for Mohammed’s family — who never lost hope and fought hard to bring him home — and Mohammed as they are finally reunited.”

Israel on Thanksgiving Day released the 16-year-old Palestinian American after he pleaded guilty to throwing rocks at authorities in the West Bank. The case garnered international attention since it was first reported by The Guardian. The boy was 15 years old at the time of his arrest.

Uncle Zeyad Kadur released a statement on behalf of Mohammed’s family through American reporter Jasper Nathaniel, who has been covering the West Bank.

“Words can’t describe the immense relief we have as a family right now, to have Mohammed in his parents’ arms. We thank God for bringing Mohammed home to us today. Israeli soldiers had no right to take Mohammed from us in the first place,” Kadur said.

“For more than nine months, our family has been living a horrific and endless nightmare, particularly Mohammed’s mother and father, who haven’t been able to see or touch their youngest child for nearly a year, all while knowing Israeli soldiers were beating him and starving him. We couldn’t believe Mohammed was free until his parents wrapped their arms around him and felt him safe.”

The case was politically touchy for the State Department, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a Miami Republican with a long history of supporting Israel through three terms in the U.S. Senate.

But the State Department in October said it was committed to obtaining the release of the U.S. citizen.

“Whenever a U.S. citizen is detained abroad, the Department works to provide all appropriate consular assistance,” a State Department spokesperson said in October. “The State Department is tracking Mr. Ibrahim’s case closely and working with the government of Israel on this case. We take seriously our commitment to assist U.S. citizens abroad and are providing consular assistance to Mr. Ibrahim and his family.”

Castor and U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost, an Orlando Democrat, led a letter in October to Rubio and Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee urging intervention in the case. The Representatives had met with Mohammed’s family, and said they were troubled by reports the teenager was being malnourished in Israeli custody.

“I am deeply grateful and relieved that Mohammed Ibrahim has been reunited with his family here in Florida and is finally home where he belongs,” Frost said.

“In September, I met with his family, who had been advocating for the release of their loved one. For over nine months, they lived with unbearable uncertainty and pain while Mohammed, a 16-year old American citizen from Florida, was held in an Israeli prison where he lost more than a quarter of his body weight and was cut off entirely from the outside world, even from his own family—all without any public evidence of a crime.”

Kadur stressed the child’s condition upon release as well.

“Right now, we are focused on getting Mohammed the immediate medical attention he needs after being subjected to Israel’s abuse and inhumane conditions for months. We just want Mohammed to be healthy and to have his childhood back,” Kadur said in his statement.

“We’d like to thank the more than a hundred organizations, local Florida community members, volunteers, and members of Congress who continued to speak up for Mohammed and demand his immediate freedom. We are also deeply grateful to the countless people who refused to stop telling Mohammed’s story, and to those who called their representatives every single day to demand they act to free him. Thank you for bringing Mohammed’s story to the American people and to the world. There are hundreds of children like Mohammed, unjustly trapped in an Israeli military prison, being subjected to Israel’s abuse and torture.”

Ibrahim’s family had a home where he was staying in the West Bank at the time of the arrest, but he is a U.S. citizen.

“Mohammed is also the first cousin of Saifullah Kamel Musallet, the 20-year-old U.S. citizen who was reportedly beaten to death by Israeli settlers in July 2025,” Castor and Frost wrote in their letter. “To date, no one has been arrested (in connection with) his killing.”

Frost said the affair has spotlighted mistreatment of Palestinians in the West Bank.

“It is because of the unwavering advocacy of Mohammed’s family and the coalition they built of lawmakers, organizers, and advocacy groups that he is finally free,” Frost said. “Mohammed’s story is a reminder of the ongoing fight to end illegal settlements and settler violence in the West Bank to protect the lives of innocent people. But it is also a powerful testament to what our voices can do together when we refuse to look away and choose our humanity.”

In October, Castor helped lead 10 House members and 13 Senators in pressing the Donald Trump administration on the detention of the boy. She relayed another urgent inquiry to the State Department on Thanksgiving week, days before Mohammed’s final release, regarding “dire reports” from the State Department on his status.