Each time the phone rings, Akram, aged five and two-year-old Julia dash to answer, longing to speak to their father, Amjad al-Najjar, who was recently deported to Egypt by Israel following his release from a lengthy prison sentence.Although the children have never met their father, they remain deeply attached to him and dream that one day they will be able to leave Ramallah to finally meet Amjad.Both were conceived from sperm smuggled out of an Israeli prison during Amjad’s 10-year detention. His release in January 2025, as part of a prisoner exchange with Hamas, saw him deported to Egypt along with 228 other Palestinians.The 48-year-old hoped his release would herald the start of a new life with his family, but due to Israeli travel restrictions he is unable to see his children. He remains stuck in exile in Egypt with his family trapped 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,” he told Al Jazeera. “That’s when I felt that the joy wasn’t complete and that the road to regaining a normal life was still long,” he added.Amjad, from the town of Silwad, east of Ramallah, was alrea …
