47 days with my hands bound and my eyes blindfolded—only because I am from Gaza.
Today marks the anniversary of my arrest, and I cannot forget what I went through, not for a single day.
On January 24, 2024, the displacement camp was surrounded and bombed, killing and injuring dozens inside. We were ordered by the Israeli army to evacuate toward Rafah. I left the UNRWA shelter with my family and we walked about three kilometers until we reached a military checkpoint. There, men were separated from women and children. That was the moment I was torn away from my family—I did not know what happened to them, and they did not know what happened to me.
I was carrying a bag with my money, personal documents, and our mobile phones. I was ordered to leave it and go to an area under camera surveillance. We were gathered with many men. I was forced to remove all my clothes, even my underwear, and photographed naked. I told them I had done nothing wrong, that I was innocent and sick. They replied, “All of Gaza is elite. All of Gaza is Hamas,” and then they beat me.
Afterwards, they dressed me in a white suit, blindfolded me, tied my hands behind my back, and forced me to kneel on gravel in the freezing cold. I was terrified. One of the detainees beside me died. We were then thrown on top of each other in a crowded place. A soldier grabbed me, forced my head down, and threw me into a truck, tying my hands and feet and blindfolding me again. The beating continued.
It was raining and extremely cold. I believe the journey lasted two days without food, water, or access to a toilet, until we reached a detention center near the Gaza–Israel border. The place resembled a chicken coop. They gave us new clothes, tied my hands in front of me, and replaced the blindfold.
We slept on an extremely thin pillow and blanket. Everything was scarce and degrading—even the tap water in the bathroom. We were forced to sleep at 11 p.m. and wake up at 5 a.m. Guards deliberately shouted and turned on the lights while we slept. Blindfolds were not allowed to be removed during sleep. One bathroom for every 100 detainees.
I was interrogated only once, with no charges brought against me. The questioning focused on my whereabouts on October 7 and whether I knew anyone involved. It was superficial, and it was clear the arrests were random. Among the detainees were elderly men and children.
I was transferred to three detention centers and released after 47 days.
I suffered a shoulder injury and continue to receive treatment. I have herniated discs in my back and neck. I requested medical care, but they gave me heart medication instead of treating the injuries caused by torture. After my release, I sought treatment and have continued for a year. I need surgery, but no surgical operations are currently available in Gaza.
This is what happened to me—briefly—yet it is a testimony to what is being done in silence.
Archivi tag: torture
torture, genocidio
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Middle East Eye: “reframing the terminology of war”
“In light of Israel’s continued return of hundreds of Palestinian bodies who were killed under torture, blindfolded, restrained, bearing marks of abuse and fatal gunshots, many of them so mutilated that they were interred as unidentified, it has become essential to reopen the file of mass abductions, torture, and extrajudicial killings targeting Palestinians from Gaza. The scale and gravity of these violations require immediate investigation through all available legal, diplomatic, and humanitarian avenues to safeguard the tens of thousands whose fate remains unknown.
The disturbing images of Palestinian prisoners of war tortured to death were not the only scenes to shake Palestinians. Equally horrifying were the testimonies of civilian hostages recently released by Israeli authorities after establishing that they bore no affiliation to Palestinian resistance groups. These civilians describe harrowing abuse, severe torture, degrading treatment, humiliation, and assaults that violate their dignity, humanity, and personal honor, violations rendered even more acute within a conservative cultural context. The methods described reflect an extreme level of brutality, challenging the limits of human comprehension and constituting serious breaches of international humanitarian law.
The British newspaper The Guardian has disclosed the existence of an underground Israeli detention torture facility, while testimonies from civilians recently permitted to return to Gaza revealed the existence of additional similar sites. Israel continues to conceal thousands of civilians and combatants who disappeared from Gaza and its surrounding areas, withholding their identities, actual numbers, location, and fate. According to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Israel has denied all requests and blocked all attempts for access to visit them, an alarming sign of the opacity surrounding their safety.”
#Opinion by Dr Sania Faisal El-Husseini
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20251116-reframing-the-terminology-of-war/
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The meaning of the word “israHell”
‘the guardian’: freed activist ahed tamimi speaks of plight of palestinians held in israeli prisons
Caption from the video @ the youtube channel of ‘The Guardian’:
Prominent activist Ahed Tamimi is one of 30 Palestinians released in the sixth swap between Israel and Hamas. The 22-year-old, who has become a symbol of resistance against Israel’s occupation, was seen embracing her mother after being released. Tamimi told reporters: ‘Our joy is diminished because there are many martyrs in Gaza.’ She went on to describe the conditions faced by Palestinians held inside the Israeli prison