Btselem /2 April 2024

On Saturday, 8 November 2023, I was sitting on the street with a friend. Around 3:30 A.M., we saw that young guys from the town sent a Whatsapp update that soldiers were entering the town on foot. We waited there, because we wanted to know where the army was going. A few minutes later, I learned that the army was at my uncle's house, where we lived about three years ago. After a few more minutes, the soldiers left his house and went to the house we live in now. Then my brother Ahmad, who was at home, called and told me to come home because the soldiers were asking about me. Then someone took his phone and spoke to me. He introduced himself as an officer and told me I had to come home. I told him I was in Bethlehem and would turn myself in at 8:00 A.M. He said he would turn my home into a military camp until I came and turned myself in, and then he hung up. I wasn’t sure what to do.

Ten minutes later, my brother called again and told me the army was arresting him, as well as my father, until I turned myself in. I told him to ask the officer to leave them alone and that I was coming to turn myself in. I walked along the street to the house, and found my mother waiting outside for me. The soldiers had already taken my father and brother about a kilometer ahead. I went after them with my mother. When we caught up with them, they immediately released my father and brother.

One soldier shone a powerful flashlight right into my eyes. The light was strong. He said we were terrorist bastards

They tied my hands with metal handcuffs. There were about 35 soldiers there, on foot, without military vehicles. They made me walk with them from there to the nearest settlement, several kilometers away. They threatened me and some of them tried to hit me, but the soldier who was holding me wouldn’t let them attack me, so they just continued to swear and insult me. The soldier took the handcuffs off me, and they tied my hand with zip ties and covered my eyes.

They put me on a bus that went to the Etzion detention center, where they let me off in the yard. The soldiers forced me to sit on my knees without moving or changing position. One soldier shone a powerful flashlight right into my eyes. The light was strong. He said we were terrorist bastards. Soldiers passed by and swore at me. They called me "piece of shit" and "terrorist." They left me like that until about an hour and a half after sunrise. I felt my knees were breaking from kneeling so long.

Then they took me to another place, where they left me on the ground, handcuffed and blindfolded. I heard sounds of people being beaten and screaming in pain coming from structures nearby. I heard one detainee ask the soldiers to loosen his handcuffs a bit. I think the soldiers tightened them even more in order to punish him, because I immediately heard him scream in pain. I was there for an hour and a half, and then they took me to be searched and put me in a holding cell. I was held there until 11 November, and every day they brought in detainees and took others from Etzion.

I asked the judge why I was given administrative detention, and he said that it was because I was a former prisoner and we were in a state of war

On 11 November, at midday, members of the prisoner transfer unit came into the cell and took me and the other detainees. There were about 40 of us. They ordered us to stand in line by the wall and started taking us into an inspection room, sometimes two or three detainees at a time. In the room, three IPS (Israel Prison Service) officers were waiting. While we were standing outside, we heard the screams of the detainees taken into the room. We understood that whoever went in there got beaten. My turn came, and they took me in with the detainee who was ahead of me and the one behind me in line. As soon as the first one went in, two soldiers slammed him against the wall and he fell down. Then they grabbed me and threw me the same way. I saw them do the same thing to the third detainee. They said to us, "Yalla, strip." We started taking our clothes off, and they hurried us while hitting and kicking us in every part of our body. They kept on hitting us and laughing at us for about seven minutes. Then they ordered us to put our clothes back on. We went out and stood in line by a bus. They tied our hands and ordered us to keep our heads down and our hands up in the air – another way to humiliate us. We weren’t allowed to look at the officers. Then they put us on the bus, and we sat there while they continued to shout at us.

We were taken to Ofer Prison. When we were let out there, I was taken to a doctor and he asked if I had any illnesses. I answered no, and he said, "Too bad." They took my clothes away and gave me a shirt and pants. I saw that all the detainees were given the same clothes. Then they took me to a cell that was meant for six detainees but had 10 people in it. I had to sleep on a mattress on the floor, and so did three other detainees. The mattresses were worn out and didn’t protect us from the cold. I was also given a small, very light blanket. That’s how I slept for four months.

Three days after I reached Ofer Prison, I had a court hearing. The prison guard took me out of the cell, and I watched the hearing over Zoom on his phone. The lawyer told me I was issued an administrative detention order for six months. I asked the judge why I was given administrative detention, and he said that it was because I was a former prisoner and we were in a state of war. That’s how the hearing ended. Then they took me back to the cell.

[We] started covering the windows with plastic bags left over from the bread, to keep some of the cold air from coming in

On 20 November, about 15 guards came into our cell, handcuffed us, and took us to the shower room. I looked out the window there and saw them remove the glass panes from the windows of our cell and leave. Our cell had three windows: two in the cell itself and one in the toilet. They removed the glass panes to let the cold air in. It was winter and it was insanely cold. They put only three coats in the room – to make us fight among ourselves. But we simply gave the coats to the eldest detainees and started covering the windows with plastic bags left over from the bread, to keep some of the cold air from coming in. Whenever a guard came and saw the bags on the windows, he would swear and shout at us to take them off us. We would remove them in front of him, and put them back up after he left. That went on for 20 days, until the guards put the glass panes back in all the windows and gave us all coats.

As a former prisoner, I was shocked by the quality of the food. When I was in prison before, we would buy food from the canteen and there was an electric stovetop in the room for cooking. We could control the amount and quality of the food and buy whatever we wanted. But this time, the guards took away the stove and cooking utensils and didn’t let us buy from the canteen. The prison administration controlled the food entirely: what we got, how much and when. It was another way to humiliate us. They gave us just enough food to keep us alive.

In the morning, they would give us a spoonful of chocolate spread or two spoonfuls of jam for the whole cell. We collected that throughout the week and ate it only on Saturdays, to get some sugar into our blood. They would also give us three or four vegetables for the whole cell. At midday, they gave a plate and a half of rice with some lentils or beans for the entire cell. Supper was almost the same, with one egg or a sausage. For 90 days, I fasted all day and saved my portion of the food, and then ate it all in the evening as iftar (the meal breaking the fast), like during Ramadan. When I entered the prison, I weighed 102 kilos, and when I left on 29 February 2024, I weighed 80 kilos.

Twice a week, they took us out to shower and gave us 15 minutes. They gave us a very small bottle of shampoo, which wasn’t even enough to wash our hands. They only operated six showers, which was not enough for everyone – so we showered in rotation. I ended up showering once a week.

When I entered the prison, I weighed 102 kilos, and when I left on 29 February 2024, I weighed 80 kilos

On 29 February 2024, I finished noon prayers and was reading the Quran when two guards came to the door of the cell. One of them told the detainees to step back. Then he called me. I asked him where they were taking me, and he told me to be quiet. I asked him again, so the other detainees would know. He said: “Transfer from prison to prison”. They gathered about 40 detainees in a large room and put us in a prison transport vehicle. At 8:00 P.M., they drove us out of Ofer camp and released us there.

* Testimony given to B’Tselem field researcher Basel al-Adrah on 2 April 2024