Btselem / 20 June 2024

I lived with my wife and our four children, Muamen and Rimas, 9-year-old twins, Yusef, 5, and Muhammad, 4, in Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip.

Our house is close to the border, at the eastern end of Beit Hanoun. The whole extended family left right on 7 October, because the situation in our area was tough - Israeli warplanes bombed randomly and also created fire rings around the area. We decided to move to the schools in the a-Sheikh Zayed area in Beit Lahiya, which were converted into IDP camps that very day.

We managed to get to the school. While we were there, nearby towers were bombed, which caused a lot of destruction and ruin in the area. The army surrounded the school too. We didn’t leave despite this, because we had nowhere to go and the situation was tough everywhere. People in the school were killed and injured. Because there were snipers around, we couldn’t go out and bury the dead, so we buried them on the school grounds.

In early December, maybe on the 7th, the army raided the area again and surrounded the school. The soldiers called the men to come out and take their clothes off. We came out of the school with our hands up and did what they said. The soldiers blindfolded and handcuffed us and took us to some military post in Beit Lahiya. They ordered the women and children to go to the west of Gaza City.

We were split into two groups and the group I was in was released by the army five hours later. My brothers weren’t in this group and weren’t released. We still don’t know what happened to them.

There were about 80 of us who’d been taken from the school at the post. My brothers were also there: Akram al-Bassiuni, 40, Muhammad al-Bassiuni, 33, and ‘Abd a-Rahman al-Bassiuni, 45. At the post, we were split into two groups and the group I was in was released by the army five hours later. My brothers weren’t in this group and weren’t released. We still don’t know what happened to them.

The soldiers ordered us to go to the west of Gaza City, and I went to the IDP camps there. I found my wife, our children and my parents in an IDP camp. The situation there was bad, aerial bombings, tank shelling. There was already hunger in the northern Gaza Strip.

In early January, the Israeli army invaded western Gaza, and I was detained again. I got handcuffed and blindfolded. I was taken with about 100 people and put in a very large pit. Then, they led us to the Zikim area in the northern Gaza Strip, still blindfolded and handcuffed. They beat us brutally the whole way, humiliated us and swore at us.

We arrived somewhere I didn’t know the name of. We were kept there for 15-20 days in a large barracks in terrible conditions. We weren’t allowed to talk, and they didn’t let us shower. We were handcuffed and blindfolded the whole time. They gave us very little food: a slice of bread and a small piece of cheese - in the morning and in the evening. They beat us all day long and set dogs on us.

I was taken into interrogation one time. I was asked what my name was, which organization I belonged to, why I hadn’t left for the southern Gaza Strip, whether I was Hamas and about the tunnels.

I was released after 20 days. I went to my family, who were in an IDP camp at a school in Beit Hanoun. The situation there was and still is very difficult. There were bombings and military invasions.

I was taken with about 100 people and put in a very large pit. Then, they led us to the Zikim area in the northern Gaza Strip, still blindfolded and handcuffed. They beat us brutally the whole way, humiliated us and swore at us.

On 16 April 2024, at 7:00 A.M., the Israeli army invaded Beit Hanoun and surrounded the school where we were. They called the men to come out, and then took us to a military post. We were about 25 guys. When I told one of the soldiers that I’d already been arrested twice, he hit me in the face. They ordered us to strip down to our underwear and gave us white clothes like COVID robes. We were handcuffed and blindfolded, and then, they put us in a big pit and left us there in the heat for about six hours. At first, we thought they were going to dump the sand on us and bury us alive, but they took us out of there and took us to a detention facility that I don’t know the name of. The trip there took about four hours, and the soldiers beat, humiliated and swore at us the whole way.

At the detention facility, we were put in a barracks, where there were more than a hundred detainees. We were kept there for more than 10 days. I was very scared and stressed, and I also worried about my family. Then they took me for interrogation, beating us intensely the whole way to the interrogation room. They relished every blow they gave us.

To go to the bathroom, you had to get permission from the officer. He often refused to allow it. We got food and drink according to their mood too. They brought food only when they felt like it, and what we got were slices of bread and a small piece of cheese.

We could shower on Mondays and Thursdays, and we were given a change of underwear, but nothing more. I didn’t change my pants my entire time in detention, which lasted 50 days. Many prisoners stayed in the same clothes for a long time.

Usually, at around midnight, we’d get beaten, all the prisoners. The prison guards would let the dogs, which were muzzled, attack us then too.

Usually, at around midnight, we’d get beaten, all the prisoners. The prison guards would let the dogs, which were muzzled, attack us then too. In the morning, the soldiers would wake us up at 6:00 A.M., and then we’d be forced to kneel until around 11:00 A.M. After that, we could sleep.

No one came to visit us, not a lawyer, not the Red Cross. We didn’t get medical attention generally, but sometimes we did, for example, sometimes after the beatings. It depended on the duty medic’s mood. The entire time in detention was ongoing torture - beatings, dogs being set on us, hands cuffed behind the back, sleeping with handcuffs and blindfolds. Some prisoners got hit on their genitals. One of the detainees, who hasn’t been released to this day, started peeing his pants and had to wear diapers after he was hit in the groin a lot. When they beat them there, they’d tell them: “We don’t want you to ever have children.”

I was released on 1 June 2024. The truth is, until you’re released, you don’t really know if it’s going to happen. They call your name, as usual, and you don’t know where they’ll take you. It was only when we got to the release point – the Kissufim outpost, east of Deir al-Balah – that they took off our blindfolds and handcuffs and told us: “Go straight.” It was only then that I knew I’d been released.

One of my brothers was displaced from the northern Gaza Strip to Deir al-Balah, and I went to his tent. I’ve been with him here ever since. I wish they’d released me in the northern Gaza Strip, so I could be with my wife, our children and my parents.

The situation in the tent is tough. I’m having trouble talking to my family, who are still at the school where I was arrested, because the phone and internet systems are really unstable. I rarely succeed. I’m in very bad shape mentally. It’s very difficult for me to be far away from my wife, kids and parents, who are still at the school where I was arrested, for so long. My three brothers, who were arrested in early December, have not been released yet, and I didn’t see them in the detention facilities.

* Testimony given over the phone to B’Tselem field researcher Olfat al-Kurd on 20 June 2024