Btselem12 December 2023

On 26 October 2023, at around 1:00 A.M., I was at home with my mother and siblings. I saw out of the window a few military vehicles coming towards our house. I put on modest clothes quickly, and in the meantime soldiers started coming. My mother opened the door, and more than 10 male soldiers and two female soldiers immediately burst in. They told us to stay in the living room and searched the entire house. The officer spoke to us in Arabic and demanded our ID cards and phones.

They handcuffed me and left me on the street for almost an hour, and then they put me in the jeep

He searched my phone and said I had another one and told me to go get it. I told him that was all I had. He led me, with the two female soldiers and some male soldiers, to my bedroom and asked me about my phone again. He shouted and turned over the furniture. After he calmed down a little, he asked me what I knew about what happened on October 7. I told him I only knew what was on the news, but he said I supported ISIS and Hamas and that I knew everything. They kept me in the room for almost an hour, during which they threatened me and shouted at me, and then they took me out to the street.

They handcuffed me and left me on the street for almost an hour, and then they put me in the jeep. The officer got into the jeep with a female soldier and then put his face right up to mine, yelled at me, swore at me and threatened me. He yelled that he was going to get out and leave me with the soldiers, so they would do to me what the Hamas people did to the Jewish women in southern Israel. I tried not to respond and not to answer him, because I was scared he would hit me or assault me some other way.

The officer got out of the jeep and took me back to my room. He told me he was arresting me. I asked to go to the bathroom, because I had my period and wanted to take a few pads, but he refused. The female officers handcuffed me tightly from behind. I asked a soldier to loosen the handcuffs a little, but she just yelled at me to shut up and blindfolded me. They took me back to the jeep and threw me inside it violently, and then sat me on the floor in between the benches. The soldiers who were sitting on the benches hit me, spat at me and swore at me.

After about 20 minutes, we got to a place that looked like a military base, where they kept on swearing at me and hitting me. After a few hours of abuse, they took me to Ofer Prison with a few other women. During that ride, too, the soldiers kicked and beat us, and every time we fell asleep or leaned against the side of the jeep, they banged on it. We asked for water, but they refused and yelled at us to shut up.

I asked a soldier to loosen the handcuffs a little, but she just yelled at me to shut up and blindfolded me

When we got to Ofer, a female guard took my handcuffs off. I couldn’t move my hands. It was like the blood froze in my veins. My hands were bleeding where the handcuffs were. The female guard strip-searched me and left me in a small, dirty room with a toilet. I asked the guard to get me pads, but she refused. Then she took me for questioning. There was an interrogator there who spoke Arabic. I asked him for water, but he refused. I told him I wouldn’t talk until they brought me water, so he brought me a glass with a little bit of water.

The interrogator showed me some posts and accused me of belonging to Hamas. I denied it and told him the posts weren’t mine. He asked me about what happened near the Gaza border, about women being raped and children murdered, burned and decapitated. I told him that our religion, Islam, does not allow such behavior and that I knew nothing about it except what we saw on social media. He said I was a liar and hurled accusations at me, but I denied everything. After about half an hour of shouting, threats and swearing, the interrogator told me to sign the interrogation transcript. Then they took me to be photographed, took my fingerprints and led me to a cell where there were more detainees.

We were all handcuffed. The room was dirty and very cold, and we were hungry. They kept us in that room until the evening, and then they took us to Hasharon Prison. On the ride, the soldiers yelled, sang and hit us on the head every time we fell asleep. When we arrived, we were put in a narrow, dirty cell. There were two filthy mattresses there. We wiped off some of the dirt and flipped them so we could sit on them. The whole time we were kept there, we had trouble sleeping. There was a tap in the room without water. We asked the guards to turn on the water so we could clean the room, and we also asked for water to drink because we were very thirsty, but they refused. We also asked them for sanitary pads, but they wouldn’t give us any. They didn’t give us food, either. It was only after about two days that they brought a little bread and sour cream, and we shared it. The next day, I asked one of the guards again to bring us sanitary pads, but she refused and swore at us. It was only on the third day that one of the male guards brought us pads. He also brought some bulgur that looked really bad, and we couldn’t eat it. We made do with the bread.

I couldn’t move my hands. It was like the blood froze in my veins. My hands were bleeding where the handcuffs were

On 30 October 2023, we were taken to Damun Prison. The female guards took us all out of the room and then put us back in one by one. They told all of us to take all our clothes off and kept laughing and swearing at us and acting like we disgusted them. Then they took us in for interrogation one by one. They again asked about the events near the Gaza border and threatened to take revenge. When they finished interrogating all of us, they transferred us to the women’s unit, which was very full. There were nearly 60 prisoners there, and the number increased daily. They let us shower there. The prisoners gave us some light clothes. We were very cold. For the first two days they didn’t give us blankets, and during the whole time, they brought almost no food. When they did bring it, it was a very small amount and the food was bad.

On 30 November 2023, some guards came and took me and a few more detainees. They told us we were being released. Before they released me, they strip-searched me again, and an officer threatened me that if my family celebrated my release they would hurt us. Then we were transferred to Ofer Prison, where they kept us for about 12 hours without food or water in a small, dirty and smelly room. It was very cold there. After midnight, they handed us over to the Red Cross.

* Testimony given to B’Tselem field researcher Manal al-Ja’bari on 12 December 2023