Israel denied US embassy visit to detained Palestinian-American woman

Samaher Esmail, a Palestinian-American woman and grandmother who was arrested by Israeli soldiers in the occupied West Bank, has been detained for eight days now.

A statement from her family says that she was dragged out of her home "without allowing her to put on her hijab, (illegally) rendered to Israel and beaten badly in Israeli custody. To date, she has not been charged with any crime".

The family also says that the US embassy in Israel has had their requests to visit her denied.

"The United States is not without tools to obtain consular access to Ms Esmail and to end her ordeal. It just has to find the moral courage to do so, which has been, thus far, a tall order," the family said.

Esmail is one of three Palestinian Americans who were detained by Israel in the West Bank.

A lawyer who visited her last week said the 46-year-old was covered in bruises all over her body.