Shaadi Muqtasen worries most about his children, who are going crazy with boredom after nearly four months stuck at home without school; and his dogs, which are going wild with frustration after more than 100 days caged in a tiny yard.

His family live in the centre of old Hebron, one of the most heavily contested, heavily militarised places in the West Bank. For Palestinian residents there, life all but stopped when Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October.

Israeli security forces who control Muqtasen’s area, and have a guard post across the street, imposed an immediate lockdown, that in effect constituted house arrest, even for children.

“For the first month, we weren’t allowed to leave the house at all,” he said. “If we even started to open the small grille on the door [to look out], we could hear them cocking their guns.”

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