Btselem / 1 January 2024

I live with my wife and four sons in a building east of Khan Yunis. Two of our sons are married and live in separate apartments with their wives and children. Our area came under fire and bombardment right at the start of the war, mostly farmland, but also houses about 400 to 500 meters from ours.

On 1 December 2023, we decided that our two married sons, Ahmad and ‘Abd a-Rahman, should leave the house with their wives and children and move to a safer place in the center of Khan Yunis. I stayed home with my wife and our other two sons, Muhammad and Ibrahim.

On 5 December 2023, there was heavy bombing all around Khan Yunis, from the east and from the west. It was really close to us. We couldn’t sleep that night and early in the morning, we decided that my wife would go with Muhammad and Ibrahim to central Khan Yunis, too. I stayed home alone for about a week. The whole time, I heard tanks nearby and machine guns and shells being fired at homes. Then a shell was fired at our building, and the first-floor apartment was damaged.

When I was naked, a soldier came up from behind and hit me hard on the right side of my back with his hand, which was in a glove with a hard part

I realized I had to leave too, but it was very dangerous to go outside. I waited three days, because I was afraid of the sniper fire in the area. They damaged our solar panels, pipes and water tanks on the roof. They shot at everything around me. It was horrifying.

On Tuesday, 12 December 2023, at noon, there were tanks and soldiers right outside my front door. I took a white flag and opened the door, so they would see the flag and know I was a civilian. When the soldiers saw the flag, they shot at the door, but not at me. It felt like it was meant to scare me, but not hurt me.

I immediately said to one of the soldiers, in Hebrew: “I own this house. I’m a civilian. I’m 65.” I repeated it twice. The soldier told me: “Get down on the ground and crawl.” He also ordered me to strip completely, including my underwear. I took all my clothes off and when I was naked, a soldier came up from behind and hit me hard on the right side of my back with his hand, which was in a glove with a hard part. It still hurts where he hit me. Then he tied my hands behind my back and blindfolded me.

They kept me lying on the ground in our garden for about half an hour. Then they took me, still naked, to another house in the neighborhood, about 150 meters from mine. They took a picture of me and gave me a number (058793).

Two hours later, the soldiers took me to another house for questioning. They gave me slippers to put on, and then held me by the hand and led me, still naked and blindfolded, along a very bumpy path that was full of stones, broken glass and sand.

I was interrogated for about 45 minutes. They asked me about my neighbors and who I knew in Hamas. They took the blindfold off during the interrogation. The officer who interrogated me asked me about my children and how I knew Hebrew. I asked him for water, and he brought me some. After the questioning, they took me back to the house I was in before.

From there, they took me to a place near the eastern border of Khan Yunis, far away from the shooting and shells. I was still naked, handcuffed and blindfolded. At that point, they also tied my feet. They held us outside there. It was a rough night. It was raining and I got soaked. There were other people next to me, but I didn’t know who they were. I got food there for the first time, three days after my arrest – two slices of bread and a cucumber.

I was handcuffed and blindfolded the whole time I was detained, day and night. It was very difficult to go to the bathroom like that

On Wednesday, we were put in a vehicle that looked like a bus and driven to some place, which I later understood was inside Israel. The drive took almost an hour.

When I got there, I was given underwear and a gray prisoner’s uniform. The following night, I was interrogated for about three hours. They sat me on a chair and tied one of my hands tied to it. My feet were tied to steel fixed to the ground. I was told to keep my head down. The content of the interrogation was very similar to that of the first interrogation.

Two days later, I was interrogated for another hour or so, along the same lines. They asked the same questions – about me, my children and the neighbors.

There were other people from Gaza at the detention camp, some who were arrested at home and others in hospitals.

The conditions there were very difficult. I was handcuffed and blindfolded the whole time I was detained, day and night. It was very difficult to go to the bathroom like that. I even preferred not to eat so I wouldn’t have to go to the bathroom, which was also filthy.

In one of the roll calls in the shed I was held in, I found out there was a 13-year-old boy from the Kandil family with us.

In one of the roll calls in the shed I was held in, I found out there was a 13-year-old boy from the Kandil family with us. I don’t know his first name. I heard the soldier ask him, “How old are you?” He said to her, “Thirteen”. Then they left.

On Sunday, 24 December 2023, early in the morning a soldier came and asked if anyone had deposited belongings. I didn’t know if I had anything there. I didn’t know if they’d taken my ID card and phone after I stripped or left them there. In any case, I didn’t receive anything.

After that, they put me and some other prisoners on a bus and took us to the Kerem Shalom crossing. We got there at around 7:00 A.M., along with another bus. There were about 60 of us detainees. They untied our hands. I walked barefoot from there, for about four or five kilometers. A soldier told me: “Look, that’s the road. Follow it, and you’re not allowed to stop or look back.”

When I got to the Palestinian side of the crossing, there was an UNRWA station there. They gave me water to drink and a biscuit.

I asked the UNRWA people to call my wife and they let me make the call, but I couldn’t get hold of her because the cellphone network was down. Then I asked them to connect me with my nephew Muhammad, who works at UNRWA. I talked to him and he came and picked me up.

No one in my family even knew I was arrested and held for almost two weeks by the Israeli army. Because there was almost no cellphone connectivity, they just thought I couldn’t get in touch and maybe left home house and was trying to reach them. They were surprised and shocked to hear what happened to me.

Then I was driven home, where I met my family. We all cried.

* Testimony given to B’Tselem field researcher Olfat al-Kurd on 1 January 2024