GEOFF BENNETT: The day before Thanksgiving was the real celebration for an American family living in the occupied West Bank; 16-year-old Mohammed Ibrahim was released from nearly 10 months in an Israeli prison, arrested in February in the dead of night at his family home for allegedly throwing stones at Israeli vehicles.

His family was unable to speak or even see him for his entire detention.

The American Embassy advocated for his release after his health had declined.

Finally, last Wednesday, he was freed.

Amna spoke with Mohammed and his father for an exclusive sit-down TV interview.

AMNA NAWAZ: After more than nine months in an Israeli jail, this was 16-year-old Mohammed Ibrahim's first hug with his father, freed and finally home.

Back with his family in the occupied West Bank, he sat down with his father, Zaher Ibrahim, to speak to the "News Hour."

So, Mohammed, I have to start with you because a lot of people have been waiting to hear from you.

What can you tell us about how you're doing and what it's like to be back home?

MOHAMMED IBRAHIM, Palestinian-American Child Detainee: So good.

I feel safe now.

And I missed everyone and everything.

AMNA NAWAZ: What was the very first thing that you did when you arrived back home, Mohammed?

MOHAMMED IBRAHIM: I see my family.

ZAHER IBRAHIM, Father of Mohammed Ibrahim: Gave everybody a big hug.

That's one thing that he did.

AMNA NAWAZ: And, Zaher, we saw that video of your first embrace with him after nine months of being apart.

What can you tell us about what that moment was like for you?

ZAHER IBRAHIM: It was probably the best day of my life, the best moment of my life.

You know, 9.5 months, I haven't heard his voice or seen him.

It was like from hell to heaven, that second.

It was -- I can't even express my feelings about it.

The truth, when we first gave him a hug, you give him a hug, you can feel his body, his back.

He's very, very skinny.

And we took him to the hospital to have him -- have him checked.

And he even asked us: "Am I dreaming?

Am I really out?"

We told him: "Yes, you're out.

It's done.

It's over.

You're back safe with your family."

AMNA NAWAZ: Mohammed was just 15 years old when he was arrested in February from his family home in the middle of the night, charged with throwing objects at Israeli vehicles.

His father says U.S.

pressure as Mohammed's health deteriorated helped secure his release.

ZAHER IBRAHIM: Most of these charges that they throw at these children are bogus charges.

That was the pressure from the U.S.

government and senators and congressmen.

They played a big role in the release of Mohammed.

At the end, when the U.S.

Embassy visited Mohammed three weeks ago, and they called me and they said: "Mohammed, I'm going to just tell you straight out he's not doing good, you know.

He lost more weight and physically, mentally, he looks ill."

Even the U.S.

Embassy feared for his life.

He said he's not doing good at all.

And that's when we see more movement.

And that's when the lawyer went in and things changed.

So then they said, before something happens to him, he has to be released.

And he got released.

AMNA NAWAZ: We should underscore here, Mohammed is a U.S.

citizen, right?

Do you have an explanation that's satisfying to you about why it took U.S.

authorities over nine months to get him released?

ZAHER IBRAHIM: Ambassador Huckabee called me after the release of Mohammed and he says: "I'm sorry it took so long.

It's something we have been working on from day one.

We didn't expect it to last this long."

But I really think, if the U.S.

State Department wanted Mohammed released from the beginning, they could have put more pressure from day one.

But I think they just let it slide until months and months and months.

But when they seen his health was getting worse and worse and worse, and, as you can tell from the pictures, the before and after for Mohammed, before he got arrested and how he walked out is a big difference.

And his face size, his body, his weight, just by the pictures -- they say a lot of words.

And what's sad is all the whole -- everybody in jail is the same situation.

You have another 300, 400 hundred kids in there that's going through the same thing that Mohammed was going through.

AMNA NAWAZ: Back home, he is surrounded by family, showering him with love and plying him with home-cooked meals after the teen lost significant weight over the last several months.

ZAHER IBRAHIM: Their food is basically junk and barely enough to survive, scabies, stomach virus.

They went through a lot.

When he told me what they went through, it's hard to believe that this country will do that to individuals, starve them almost to death.

He had one of his mates that was in his same cell his same age that was -- that died in front of him in jail.

AMNA NAWAZ: Zaher, just to clarify, are you saying that Mohammed saw another teenager who was with him in prison die in front of him?

ZAHER IBRAHIM: He died in front of his eyes.

He had the scabies and he had a real bad stomach kind of virus, and they ask for medical attention, but they never get it.

So, at one point, he just fainted and fell to the ground, and that was it.

And they asked for medical attention for him, and they didn't -- he didn't -- nothing happened.

He didn't get nothing.

Then they pronounced him dead.

So this happened in front of his eye.

And this is a kid that was in his room.

AMNA NAWAZ: The boy was 17-Year-Old Walid Khalid, a Palestinian teenager who died in Israeli custody in late March.

And just moments after he was freed, Mohammed learned his cousin, 19-year-old Palestinian-American Saifullah Musallet, had been beaten to death by Israeli settlers in July while Mohammed was in prison.

ZAHER IBRAHIM: You know, that was a hard for Mohammed.

And he got the news.

It was like -- it was very hard.

We had to stop the car.

He couldn't breathe.

It was like -- it was -- we had to put water on his face.

And so these instances, it has to stop.

The Israeli government has to stop all these Israeli settler attacks on these -- on the towns around us, because every day is getting worse and worse.

You could be in your own house or a neighbor's house in the village and you cannot be safe because you don't know who's going to come at night and attack your house or your family or your car.

So this is the life that they live every day now here.

AMNA NAWAZ: Every day for Mohammed now means rebuilding his new life and reconnecting with the old one.

Mohammed, we have also seen video of you reconnecting with your friends back in the United States, talking to them on the phone.

Can you tell us what you talked about with them, what that was like?

MOHAMMED IBRAHIM: It was so good.

I talked about them about the jail, about anything, about everything I ate and everything.

AMNA NAWAZ: And, Zaher, I know Mohammed turned 16 while he was in detention.

And your family told us earlier you didn't celebrate his birthday, obviously, while he was still in jail.

Do you have plans to celebrate his birthday now that he's free?

ZAHER IBRAHIM: He just has to wait until his next birthday maybe.

(LAUGHTER) ZAHER IBRAHIM: He's good.

We can -- we will do a birthday every day for him as long as he's home.

And that's -- so his grandmother's birthday was today, so we brought him cake for them today.

So he got his cake today.

AMNA NAWAZ: After everything you have been through, what's it like to have him sitting there next to you?

ZAHER IBRAHIM: Oh, it feels good.

And, as a father, my duty is to keep him safe and make sure he stays safe, and get his weight back up, and get him back to the States, where he can -- he missed a year now of school.

So, yes, he has to catch up on studying, get his driver's license, get his part-time job, start his life.

AMNA NAWAZ: Well, we know you're anxious to spend as much time as you can with him.

We will let you get back to that.

We thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us today.

That's Zaher and Mohammed Ibrahim.

Mohammed, welcome back home.

MOHAMMED IBRAHIM: Thank you.

ZAHER IBRAHIM: Thank you.

Thank you.