Until the war broke out on 7 October, I lived in Jabalya R.C. in the northern Gaza Strip with my wife Islam, 37, and our two children, Rifan, 10, and Jamal, 8. Last June I had a cycling accident and broke three bones in my chest. My upper body was set with platinum. I had skull fractures, too.

On the very first day of the war, there were bombings and rocket fire in our area, and we decided that my wife would take the kids to her parents’ house in a-Zeitun neighborhood in Gaza City. I moved into my parents’ house, along with my brothers and sisters and their children. There were 18 of us there.

The dislodged platinum implant in ‘Abd al-Qader Tafesh’s chest. Photo: Olfat al-Kurd, B’Tselem, 7 Feb. 2024

After about a month, at the beginning of November, my parents’ house was hit by a bombing and caught fire. We moved my mother and sisters to the neighbors’ house. My father, who has asthma, was admitted to Kamal Adwan Hospital and given oxygen, and then he was discharged. The neighbors helped us put out the fire, and the next day we cleaned the house as best we could and went back to living in it. But it was bombed again the very same night, along with other houses in the area. We moved to the neighbors’ house again, but the fire in the area continued. That day, we moved to Kamal Adwan Hospital.

We stood there in the yard, 500-600 men, all of us naked, in our underwear. There were tanks and soldiers around the hospital and they had a camera crew with them.

We stayed there for a month, surrounded by death and suffering. There were dead bodies next to us, and lots of badly injured people kept arriving. During the ceasefire, I went back to see what happened to our house and to my parents’ house, and found total destruction. There were no streets or houses left. I went back to the hospital and told my parents what I saw. That whole time, I barely heard from my wife and kids because communications were often down.

When the ceasefire ended, things got even worse. It was impossible to leave the hospital and the sights inside it were horrific – wounded people, parts of dismembered bodies. We dug pits in the hospital grounds and buried the dead in them. During our time there, the hospital was hit by a tank shell and people were killed, including women and children.

One morning, I think it was 11 December 2023, I heard loud explosions in the area and soldiers invaded the hospital. They called out over the loudspeaker, ordering all boys and men between the ages of 15 and 70 to come out with their hands up and show their ID cards.

We went out to the hospital yard with our hands up and were ordered to undress. We stood there in the yard, 500-600 men, all of us naked, in our underwear. There were tanks and soldiers around the hospital and they had a camera crew with them. Outside there was heavy gunfire, as well as clashes and shelling. They led us outside and tied our hands with zip ties. We stayed like that on the street for about three hours, and then they made us walk for about 500 meters to a house they turned into a military camp. There were tanks and soldiers there.

The soldiers called five men at a time to go ahead together. When we went forward, the soldier ordered me to take two steps back, get down on my knees and put my head down. Then they put a yellow sticker on my right shoulder, and then four soldiers beat me hard. They kicked me and one of them hit my head and shoved it into the sand. Then they took me to another area, about 300 meters away, where there were 10 other people being badly beaten by soldiers.

They ordered me to put my head down and blindfolded me. Then they fired two shots next to me, while one of the soldiers asked: “Do you want to die?” It was very cold, and we were still naked. I started having cramps all over my body. I heard soldiers torturing young guys over where the tanks were. They were screaming in pain and I heard a soldier say in Arabic: “Put your head down and shove it into the ass of the guy in front of you.”

At some point, a soldier trod on my neck and I felt I was choking. I told him: “I have a platinum implant in my neck.” He immediately started hitting me on the shoulder and the platinum broke. While he was beating me, the blindfold fell off my eyes. My head was full of sand. I told the soldier: “I want a doctor,” and he said: “You want a doctor from me, you son of a bitch?” He swore at me, dragged me along the ground and kept hitting and kicking me all over my body. He hit me on the nose and I started bleeding, and then he poured water on my face and blindfolded me again. Then they put me in a corner and a lot of soldiers hit me there. One of them cut the zip ties and tied my hands behind my back. The platinum was sticking out of the top of my chest. They hit me on the neck, slapped me and kicked me all over my body. I started calling out for God and praying to die. A soldier told me: “You’re Hamas.” I told him I was just a displaced civilian whose home was destroyed. He asked my name and before I could answer, another soldier hit me on the head.

There was an officer there, and he wrote the number 81 on my hand and forehead. Then they put a bag over my head. At that moment, I thought they were going to execute me

There was an officer there, and he wrote the number 81 on my hand and forehead. Then they put a bag over my head. At that moment, I thought they were going to execute me. They led me a distance of about 300 meters, hitting me as we walked, and then I was put in a truck with other detainees. We were piled one on top of the other in the truck, and one of the soldiers tied my legs. It was night by then. It was very cold and it was raining.

The truck stopped, and I think we were at Erez Crossing. I managed to take a look under the blindfold and saw a lot of soldiers there. One soldier peed on all of us. They took us off the truck. I was shivering with cold. They beat us hard with sticks while they were getting us out, and then they made us stand single-file in a long line, in the rain. We cried and prayed to God.

I was completely frozen. We stayed standing like that, in a line, for about three hours, while the soldiers kept beating us. I can’t describe how awful it was. Then they took us inside Erez Crossing and split us up into small rooms – 20 people in a room about two square meters. In the room, they ordered me to take off my underwear and while I did so, a soldier kicked me in the stomach. Then they dressed us in see-through robes.

I started shouting: “Platinum, platinum,” hoping they would have mercy on me and stop beating me. Suddenly, I heard my father. I didn’t even know he was next to me. He recognized my voice and called my name. But before I could answer him, the soldiers jumped on him and beat him badly. They also tightened the zip ties on his hands until they hurt and he started shouting: “My hand! My hand”.

I was getting sleepy, but every time my head dropped a bit, the soldiers gave me a beating. I shouted in pain. It got very cold. The soldiers must have turned on the air conditioner there. One of my legs went numb and I couldn’t move it.

Then they took us outside and put us on a bus. They ordered us all to say in Arabic: “Long live Israel, long live the people of Israel. And who is the ass? That’s Sinwar.” We rode on the bus for a long time. We kept our heads down the whole way and the soldiers swore at us. They called us “sons of bitches” and “filthy” and cursed Allah and Islam. I was afraid I’d never return to the Gaza Strip. After two or three hours, the bus stopped and they let us off. They made us sit in a yard, on gravel.

A female soldier came up to me, hit me on the back of the head and said: “Shut up!” Then soldiers took me into a room and removed my blindfold. I was standing in front of a camera, and I could see a photo of my ID card on one of the soldiers’ cell phones. He asked for my name, my wife’s name and my parents’ names, and whether I had any diseases. I told him I had migraines and explained my medical condition to him. I described how the soldiers tortured me. He wrote something down on a piece of paper and then gave me a painkiller. I swallowed it and then the same soldier blindfolded me again. They gave me underwear and gray pajamas. I took off the robe they put on me earlier and put on the underwear and pajamas, and then they hit me again and forced me to say “long live Israel.”

Sometimes they hung me by one hand and left me like that for three or four hours until I fainted

I discovered we were in a military prison. I don’t know what it was called. We had no rights there. We didn’t see any lawyers or Red Cross representatives. I was kept there with my hands in metal handcuffs day and night, and sometimes my legs, too. Sometimes they hung me by one hand and left me like that for three or four hours until I fainted. I couldn’t move the other hand because my shoulder must have been broken from the beatings when the platinum came out. I heard strange sounds, yelling and dogs barking. I was taken to the interrogation room about five or six times. In the interrogations, I was asked about my friends and neighbors and whether I had undergone military training. All they gave us to eat was a slice of bread, a cucumber and a small piece of cheese. Now and then we got some tuna fish and a bit of water to drink.

I was held there for 40 days – 40 days of beatings, swear words, kneeling and being hung up by my hands. It was very cold and there were no blankets. We were only allowed to sleep from midnight to 4:00 A.M. I didn’t know what was going on with my father until a detainee transferred to my cell said he was in very poor health.

I was taken to a hospital twice. The first time I remember being taken away in handcuffs without knowing where I was going. At the hospital, they did a CT scan and told me, “You need shoulder surgery, but you’ll have it in Gaza.” The second time they took me was after I fainted.

One day, they lined us up, called our names out and put us on a bus. They transferred us to another prison. The treatment there was humiliating and disgusting. I was held there until Friday, 26 January 2024, in the early morning hours, when they started calling our names. When they called my name out, I got up. They gave me back my ID card and put me on a bus with other detainees. We drove for about three or four hours. We were told to keep our heads down the whole way. Then the bus stopped and a soldier suddenly ordered us to raise our heads and smile. We were photographed and then taken off the bus. They cut the zip ties on our hands and took off the blindfolds. I could barely see anything. We were led on foot for about a kilometer. I don’t know how I managed to walk at all.

40 days of beatings, swear words, kneeling and being hung up by my hands

We found ourselves at the Kerem Shalom crossing, and as soon as I got there, I collapsed on the ground. Some young men picked me up and put me on an UNRWA bus. Then, when we got to the other side, they laid me on a bed and called for a Red Cross ambulance. The ambulance took me to Abu Yusef a-Najar Hospital. I was in bad shape. I kept blacking out. I was very weak and couldn’t move. They treated me for four hours, gave me painkillers and fluids, and did a CT scan. They put support straps on my legs. I was discharged that day.

Now I am at a relative’s place in Rafah. I found out my father was released before me. I met up with him in Rafah. He looked so exhausted, I felt he was broken. I hugged him. He found shelter in a school, but I’m in worse shape and can’t live in the conditions there, with the overcrowding and the difficulty reaching the bathroom.

My wife and children were already in Deir al-Balah. I’ve only seen them once since I was released.

I’m in really bad shape. I’m supposed to have surgery abroad. I have tremors all over my body. My muscles are limp from all the beatings in detention. I can only walk with crutches, and barely even that. I’m in a lot of pain and there aren’t enough painkillers. At night I have trouble sleeping, because of the pain and the cold and the difficult thoughts. There is no one here to take care of me. I have no clothes. I am mentally shattered and need physical and psychological rehabilitation.

Right now, my biggest wish is to be able to sleep at night.

* Testimony given to B’Tselem field researcher Olfat al-Kurd on 7 February 2024