Btselem13 May 2024

I live in Khalet al-‘Issa, an area in the eastern part of the town of Sa’ir, which lies north of Hebron. I am married, and my first son was born during my detention in the occupation prison. I have a B.A. in Communications and Television, and I used towork as a photojournalist for an agency called G-Media.

On Tuesday, 7 November 2023, at around 2:00 A.M., I was at home with my wife. From the window, I saw several military patrol vehicles outside our house. I opened the door and saw soldiers spread out there. I turned immediately to the officer and said, “I’m ‘Abd al-Muhsen Shalaldeh.” The officer ordered me to go back inside and force went to my relatives’ house, which is behind mine. I stayed inside, trying to see what was going on. After about five minutes, they came back to my house. I was standing outside with the door open. They tied my hands behind my back with zip ties, and one of the soldiers made me stand facing the wall. He ordered my wife to bring my ID card from inside while he asked me for my name and ID number. The officer demanded I hand over my phone and gave my name and details over the phone to someone else.

The soldiers blindfolded me, put me into a military jeep, and made me sit on the floor. We drove and stopped somewhere. Based on how long we  drove, I’m guessing it was the settlement of Asfar . After a few minutes, we continued on to a military camp—I’m not sure where it was. They took me out of the vehicle there.

My entire body was already in pain and my hands were swollen, but there was no point in trying to talk to the soldiers

I was brought into a room and ordered to unlock my phone. I did, and one of  the soldiers started going through it while others beat and kicked me. They slapped and punched me all over my body, and I fell to the floor. My whole body hurt. They continued hitting me on and off for about two hours. Twice, they put cigarettes out on my head. I felt my skin actually burning from that despicable act, and screamed. The soldiers mocked me. They brought in two more detainees, placed them next to me, and began to beat them as well. The soldiers trod on my hands, and I screamed in pain, but they ordered me to be silent. One of the soldiers lit something, a lighter or a candle, and held it near my tied hands. I felt the palm of my right hand burning. There was no point in shouting. They cursed my mother and called me “dog.” My hands swelled up because the zip ties were very tight and because of the fire.

Meanwhile, a military medic arrived and asked me if I had any illnesses. I told him they were beating me, and he responded in Arabic, “No problem.” Then one of the soldiers pushed my head down, lifted my arms up, and led me quickly to the military vehicles parked nearby. He threw me onto the floor of one of them and then they fetched the two other detainees and threw them on top of me. The vehicle drove us somewhere far off, in an area I didn’t recognize.

Once we got there, they dragged me into a yard, and forced me to kneel on gravel. I felt the gravel cutting into my knees. My entire body was already in pain and my hands were swollen, but there was no point in trying to talk to the soldiers. As soon as they took me out of the vehicle, one of them attacked me, kicking me in the chest, which hurt even more than before because his boots had a steel part. I fell backwards onto my tied hands, which hurt terribly. I didn’t process what was happening to me until another soldier kicked me in the face and shouted at me, “Say ‘Am Yisrael Chai, Am Yisrael Chai’ [The people of Israel live].” The soldiers beat me all over my body, and I heard them beating the other two detainees as well. This continued on and off for about an hour. I couldn’t move. I felt they wanted to kill me. No words can describe how terrible it was. Later I learned that I was at the detention facility in Etzion Prison, south of Bethlehem.

After that, two soldiers dragged me a few meters and put me in a room. They took off the zip ties and forced me to strip, leaving me in my underwear until they brought me a prison uniform. From there, they took me to a cell with nine detainees, making me the tenth. There were 10 beds, and each detainee had one blanket and a very thin mattress. There were no pillows. I tried to relax and sleep, but couldn’t because I was in such pain from the beatings, especially in my chest. I felt some of my ribs were broken.

The cell lacked basic living conditions, and even cleaning supplies. The food we received was very poor: for breakfast, each detainee got a few pieces of bread with a spoonful of labneh, and for lunch and dinner, we didn’t get enough for even a quarter of the detainees in the cell.

they took me to a medic. When I told him I was in severe pain and might have a fracture in my collarbone, he replied in Arabic, “God willing, you’ll die.”

I remained in Etzion until Friday, 10 November 2023. I was in severe pain the entire time, and they never took me to any police or Shin Bet interrogation. From there they transferred me to Ofer Prison. When we arrived, they put me and a group of detainees in a room with two Israel Prison Service guards. They strip-searched me, entirely naked, with a metal detector. Then they took me to a medic. When I told him I was in severe pain and might have a fracture in my collarbone, he replied in Arabic, “God willing, you’ll die.” After that, he ordered me to sign a document which I couldn’t read, and then he told me to leave.

They put me in wing 14, cell 10. There were 10 of us, and four had to sleep on the floor. They gave me a blanket and a mattress. There was nothing in the cell, not even basic items. We were given very few cleaning supplies. I stayed in that cell for eight days. I wasn’t allowed to go out to the yard – they said it was a punishment and that I wasn’t allowed to shower. The shower was outside the cell. We were forbidden from calling for public prayers and were only allowed to pray in our cells, in a hushed voice.

After about three days, they took me and other detainees to a police interrogation at Ofer. They cuffed our hands with metal cuffs in front of the cell, and then took us out of the prison. There was a guard from the Nachshon Unit there, who held my hands up and kept my head down. When we got to the police, they took me out of the vehicle and a guard slapped me twice and said it was because I’d raised my head. He swore at me: You dog. They photographed us and took our fingerprints. After that, they put me in a room. I tried to sit on the chair, but an interrogator in civilian clothes who wwas there shouted, “Don’t sit, you dog!” He said I belonged to Hamas, and I denied it. Then he said I was filming activities for Hamas, and I denied that, too. He ordered me to sign a paper. Then I was taken out and the Nachshon Unit took me back to the prison.

After 10 days, they transferred me to the Shin Bet interrogation wing in the area. They took me out to the yard with 15 other detainees, tied our hands behind our backs with zip ties, and took us to the Nachshon Unit’s “posta” [transport vehicle]. At the door of the vehicle, one of the guards came up to me and punched me in the face for no reason, and then grabbed my tied hands and kicked me in the rear. I flew forward and hit one of the iron seats. I felt my shoulders dislocate because of the way my hands were tied. They did the same thing to all the others. One of the guards asked who among us was Haniyeh, Sinwar, Deif, or Abu ‘Ubeidah. They cursed us.

When one of the detainees asked to go to the restroom, two guards pounced on him and beat him badly for several minutes. After that, none of us dared to ask for anything

We waited in that vehicle, handcuffed, on the metal seats, for about 10 hours. During that time, the guards beat us several times, especially around the head. They played loud sounds and shouting on the speakers. When one of the detainees asked to go to the restroom, two guards pounced on him and beat him badly for several minutes. After that, none of us dared to ask for anything, to go to the restroom or food and water, because we were afraid of being beaten. Finally, the vehicle took us to the Shin Bet. It was around the time of the first evening prayer.

When they let me out at the interrogation wing, a guard raised my hands and pressed on my neck. Inside the wing, the interrogator introduced himself as Captain Salman. He said we were in a state of war and that I was working for a forbidden news agency. He informed me that I was being put in administrative detention for six months. I was very scared—after all the violence and pain I went through in the days since I was detained, I didn’t understand how I could survive six months. They took us back to the prison, exhausted after a day without food or water.

I remember that in late November, a detainee managed to smuggle two bottles of shampoo from the canteen. After about five hours, members of a unit that specializes in suppressing detainees broke into our cell. They handcuffed us and then beat us with clubs and kicked us for a long time. Afterwards, they dragged us to the yard, shouting and swearing. They conducted a thorough search of the cell, and when they put us back in, we discovered they’d poured the shampoo on the blankets.

In mid-January, I remember that people from the Keter (IRF) Unit came with guns, clubs and dogs to wing 13, which is a wing for minors opposite ours. They attacked the detainees in the cells there and beat them, claiming that four detainees had declared a hunger strike due to the living conditions. The people in the neighboring cells started shouting, to protest the violence against the minors. The unit people came to us, as well. They ordered us to kneel facing the cell wall, with our hands over our heads. Then the door opened, and a group of guards with clubs came in. They tied our hands behind our backs with zip ties and then attacked us, beating us all over with clubs. I took several blows to the head and back, and shouted in pain. The guards swore at us: sons of bitches, dogs. They beat us for another two minutes and then left the cell.

During the month of Ramadan, we agreed that each day, a different cell would call for prayers. One day, a guard passed by and heard me calling for the prayer that marks the breaking of the fast. He asked who was called to prayers, but no one answered him. A few minutes later, the guard returned with an officer who asked who’d called for prayers. We didn’t answer. He threatened that if we didn’t tell him, they would destroy everything in the cell. I told him it was me, even though I was afraid they would beat me. He said that this time they wouldn’t do anything to us, but if we called for prayers again, they would destroy everything in the cell and beat us.

The next day, a young man from another cell called for prayers. The suppression unit came to our cell, not his. Again, they ordered us to kneel facing the wall, and then tied our hands behind our backs and beat us with clubs. After that, they dragged us outside, searched the cell, checked all the mattresses and threw them on the floor. Finally, they put us back in the cell and left. Two days later, I was transferred to wing 15.

During Passover, the food was even worse. They gave us six pieces of matza and six potatoes for 12 detainees. They didn’t give us bread or rice. We were so hungry, we were dizzy and lost our balance.

I later learned from my family that the lawyer tried to visit me more than once, but the prison administration rejected his requests

Throughout my detention, I wasn’t taken to a doctor, even though I asked for medical attention several times. The guards only gave medication to people with chronic problems. During my six months of detention, I was taken twice to a room where I attended court hearings via video call, but I wasn’t allowed to meet my lawyer. I later learned from my family that the lawyer tried to visit me more than once, but the prison administration rejected his requests.

I was released from Ofer Prison on Monday, 6 May 2024, after six months of administrative detention. Before my release, I was strip-searched, entirely naked, in front of two guards. At 5:00 P.M., they drove me and five others to Bitunya. On the way, they turned back and put one of the detainees back in prison. They said he’d been issued a new administrative detention order. I was released along with the other four. My family didn’t know I was getting out, and I had to make my way home by myself.

I got out exhausted, with headaches and general weakness. I lost five or six kilos in detention. My doctor told me I have a deficiency of vitamins, salts and minerals and have to take vitamins and dietary supplements to make up for what I lost in detention. Since I got out, I’ve been in a constant state of anxiety. I’m worried about myself, my wife and our baby. My wife is also in distress. We’re both worried I’ll be arrested again.

* Testimony given to B'Tselem field researcher Basel al-Adrah on 13 May 2024