Bteselm /10 December 2023

On 26 October 2023, at midnight, I was sitting with my parents and sister when about 11 soldiers, one of them a woman, stormed into our house. Some of them were masked. They pointed their guns at us and ordered us not to move. I was wearing light half-sleeve pajamas and didn’t have time to change, so I put on my prayer clothes quickly to cover my hair.

The soldiers took me, my sister and my mother to one of the rooms. They stayed with my father in the living room, and I heard them shouting at him. They were looking for my older brother, who wasn’t home. A Shin Bet officer cursed him and threatened to arrest him and my other brothers as revenge for what Hamas did in southern Israel. The soldiers spread out in the apartment and made a huge mess.

I was very scared. I’ve never taken part in political activity, and I’ve never joined any organization. It was the first time I got arrested

After about an hour, the officer came into the room we were in. He came over to me and asked me if I knew what Hamas had done to Jewish women. I said I didn’t know anything except what they said on the news. He said they were taking me, and told the female soldier to search me. I was very scared. I’ve never taken part in political activity, and I’ve never joined any organization. It was the first time I got arrested. I begged them to let me put on my jilbab but they refused, and took me away in my pajamas with the prayer clothes over them. They tied my hands behind with metal handcuffs. It hurt a lot and I couldn’t move my hands. They blindfolded me, too, and then took me outside.

A soldier punched me hard on the head. He swore at me and called me ISIS

They put me on a bus, and I could see under the blindfold that there was no one there except the driver. Eight soldiers got in after me and swore at me. One of them hit me hard on the head and on the shoulder. The bus started driving, and after about 10 minutes we got to a camp I didn’t know. The soldiers took me out, and then a soldier punched me hard on the head. He swore at me and called me ISIS, and then cursed Hamas. They made me lie face down on the ground, with my face in the dirt. Then they tied my feet with zip ties, pulled very tightly together. Two soldiers trod on my back. I felt that I couldn’t breathe. There was dirt in my mouth. Every time I tried to raise my head to breathe, a soldier stepped on my head. I told them I was choking, and they responded by swearing. I lay there, shivering in cold and pain all over my body, with soldiers kicking me and spitting at me, until I heard the muezzin call for morning prayers.

I was put in a military vehicle and we drove off. A soldier sat next to me, and I felt there were other soldiers there. I was very thirsty and asked them for water, but they refused and swore at me. My hands hurt from the handcuffs, and I asked them to loosen them a bit, but they wouldn’t and swore and shouted at me again. At some point, the vehicle stopped and they brought in another detainee. I hadn’t slept since I was taken out of my parents’ house, so I fell asleep during the ride with my head leaning against the window, but the soldier banged on the window to stop me from sleeping.

We got to Ofer Prison after about two hours. They put me and the detainee who was with me in a very small room, handcuffed and blindfolded. Women in the cell took our blindfolds off. My hands hurt a lot from the handcuffs. We called the guards to take us to the toilet, hoping they’d take the cuffs off. A female guard took us to the toilet and untied our hands. Then she tied our hands again, but didn’t tighten the handcuffs like before. I was very thirsty and drank from the tap in the toilets.

Then a male guard came and took me into interrogation. I was exhausted and asked for water. They gave me a little. The interrogator asked me about my studies, about university and about my political affiliation. I said I was just a medical physics student and didn’t have any political affiliation. Then he asked about what Hamas did, about raping Jewish women and killing children. I told him I didn’t know anything about that, and then he swore at me, threatened me and made baseless accusations. Then the guard took my fingerprints and a DNA sample and led me back to the cell.

I was too tired to stand, so I leaned against the wall. I couldn’t believe what was happening to me. We were hungry and thirsty, but the guards refused to bring us food and water

Then they drove me, with some other detainees, to Hasharon Prison, where we were put in a small and very cold room. We sat there for a few hours, and then they took us to a very dirty cell. There were two filthy mattresses there. I stood, stunned, in a corner of the cell and felt disgusted and nauseous. I was too tired to stand, so I leaned against the wall. I couldn’t believe what was happening to me. We were hungry and thirsty, but the guards refused to bring us food and water.

There were six of us in this tiny room. We were very tired but couldn’t sleep. The guards brought us three small containers of sour cream and a few pieces of bread, which was barely enough. After we ate that, they didn’t bring us any more food until the next day at 3:00 P.M., when they gave us some bulgur. It tasted awful and we couldn’t eat it.

Then, I was taken with two other prisoners to a small, dirty room, though not as bad as the room we were in before. The toilet there was completely exposed. We asked for a mattress, and they brought us the same dirty mattress that was in the other room. We wiped it and cleaned it as much as we could and sat on it, because we had no choice.

It wasn’t an interrogation, just threats. They swore at me and threatened to take revenge on my family for what Hamas did near the Gaza border

On 30 October 2023, in the early afternoon, the female guards strip-searched us, fully naked, laughing at us as they did. Then they took me and two other detainees to Damun Prison. I got taken in for interrogation again. An officer interrogated me for about 10 minutes. He mostly threatened me and swore at me. Then I was taken to the women’s unit, which was very crowded. We could have a shower there, and the prisoners gave us clothes. But there was nothing to eat or drink there either, and no commissary. We were put in a very small cell. The whole time I was there, we hardly got any food, just a few pieces of bread. It was very cold. I kept shivering because there were no blankets.

After a few weeks, we heard there was an exchange deal. A few other detainees and I were told we were being released, and then we were strip-searched again and put in a very dirty room. I was taken into a room where an interrogator threatened me and my family and warned us not to have any celebrations. Then I was taken with five other women to Ofer Prison, where they put us in a very small cell for 12 hours. It was very cold there, and there was no toilet. They didn’t give us food that whole time. We were taken, one by one, to see Shin Bet interrogators. There were six interrogators there and they all spoke at the same time. It wasn’t an interrogation, just threats. They swore at me and threatened to take revenge on my family for what Hamas did near the Gaza border. Then we waited in a cell, handcuffed and blindfolded, until we were handed over to the Red Cross.

* Testimony given to B’Tselem field researcher Manal al-Ja’bari on 10 December 2023