Btselem/19 March 2024

On 17 October 2023, around 1:25 A.M., we were woken up by loud banging on the front door. I opened the door and saw an Israeli officer and four soldiers. Dozens more soldiers were spread out around the house. The officer asked my name and demanded my ID card. I gave it to him, and he told me they were there to arrest me. I asked him to let me put on my shoes and jacket because it was cold. He refused at first, but eventually agreed and ordered me to put them on quickly. My wife brought me the shoes, and I put them on.

The soldiers blindfolded and tied my hands with zip ties behind my back. Then they made me run 200 meters with them, until we got to a military jeep. They put me in the jeep and it drove off, and then stopped on a street I don’t know. They put another detainee in the jeep. They were violent with him, and I heard him shouting. There was an officer there who yelled at him, insulted him and threatened him, and every time the detainee reacted, the officer hit him. He called him ISIS and said that after what Hamas did in communities by the border with Gaza, they would kill everyone in Gaza.

A military doctor arrived and cursed us, too [...] I heard him say to the officer: Why did you bring them here? It would have been enough to shoot them in the head

The jeep drove us to the Israeli DCO and we were let out in the yard. Underneath the blindfold, I could see other detainees sitting on the ground in the yard, handcuffed and blindfolded. The soldiers hurled insults and curses at them. We were taken to an infirmary and sat on metal chairs. A military doctor arrived and cursed us, too. I speak Hebrew, and I heard him say to the officer: Why did you bring them here? It would have been enough to shoot them in the head. The doctor asked us some questions about our health and filled out a medical form. I told him I have heart disease and have had open heart surgery. Then they took us back to the yard, and we stayed there, blindfolded and handcuffed, until the morning. It was very cold. I felt like the blood was freezing in my veins.

Around 8:00 A.M., the soldiers took me and three other detainees in a bus, still blindfolded and handcuffed, to the police station in Kiryat Arba. They let us out in the yard. Underneath the blindfold, I saw about 20 detainees sitting on the ground, handcuffed and blindfolded. They were all older men, over the age of 55, and there were several soldiers around them kicking them and swearing at them. They made me and the three detainees who were with me on the bus sit next to them, and then they started taking us one by one to an interrogation room.

The soldiers put me in a room with an interrogator who spoke fluent Arabic. He accused me of being a Hamas activist, participating in marches and publishing incitement on Facebook. I denied the accusations. After about 20 minutes of questioning, the interrogator told me to sign my statement, and I refused.

Then, a police officer came with four soldiers and led me to another room to take my fingerprints. Before they untied my hands for that, he warned me that if I didn’t do everything I was told, the soldiers would shoot me in the head. After they took my fingerprints and took a photo of me, and after they finished interrogating the rest of the detainees – all older than me – the soldiers put us in a vehicle, and while we drove, they swore at us, spat on us and kicked our legs.

After I told them I had a heart condition, they hit me again and again in the chest

We were taken to Etzion Prison, where they threw us violently out of the vehicle into the yard, blindfolded. They sat us there, and the soldiers started hitting us with their guns, kicking us, spitting on us and humiliating us. Whenever one of the detainees told them he was sick or injured, they deliberately beat him in the part of the body he complained about. After I told them I had a heart condition, they hit me again and again in the chest. I heard the screams of one detainee I knew from before, who had Mediterranean fever. The soldiers attacked him brutally. Another detainee told them he had a herniated disc and pain in his spine, so they deliberately hit him in the back. The soldiers also peed on some of the detainees. We were thirsty, but the soldiers hit us and kicked us every time someone asked for a drink of water or go to the bathroom. One detainee told me later that a soldier peed on him and then wiped his penis on his face.

We stayed like that until 8:30 P.M., and then the guards took us for a naked strip search. They took away my medication. Then they put me in a cell with 10 other detainees. It had metal beds and only thin sheets instead of blankets. It was very cold. There was an exposed, filthy toilet in the cell, and the smell was awful. We got nothing to eat or drink. We stayed the night in that cell.

The next morning, around 6:00 A.M., after roll call, they took us out to the yard to have breakfast. There were about 30 of us detainees. Breakfast consisted of labneh and two slices of bread, and of course we stayed hungry. After five minutes, we were taken back to the cells. At lunchtime, they took us out to the yard again and gave us a bowl of pasta that was so salty it was inedible, and then we were taken back to the cells. Dinner was a bowl of rice, which was also so salty we couldn’t eat it.

After two days in Etzion, I was taken by bus with 50 other detainees to Ofer Prison. They put us all in a 4x4-meter cell. It was so crowded there that we could hardly breathe. The guards started taking us one by one for a Shin Bet (ISA) interrogation, and after that, for a naked strip search. Then they gave us IPS uniforms and took us to the prison wings.

I was taken to wing 14 – the transition wing. The wing was very crowded, with about 120 inmates. They put me in a room that had six beds, along with 11 other detainees. Six slept on the beds and the rest on thin mattresses on the floor. The blankets were very light and the room was very cold, with open windows. The food was bad and in very small quantities. We were really hungry. There weren’t even minimal living conditions. There was no hot water for showering, or soap. We showered in cold water.

I asked a guard to get my medication, and he answered in Arabic: “Die.”

Because my medication was taken away at Etzion, I didn’t have any during my first two days at Ofer. I started feeling dizzy and unbalanced, and had trouble walking. I asked a guard to get my medication, and he answered in Arabic: “Die.” I banged on the cell door in protest, and an officer and a nurse came and told me they would bring me medicine, which they did later. They said only heart, hypertension and diabetes patients would get medication. On the eighth day of my detention, I was told I’d been issued an administrative detention order for six months.

On 23 October 2023, in the evening, the guards brought into our cell two young men from the village of Beit Sira in Ramallah District. One of them was ‘Arafat Hamdan, 24, and the other was his neighbor. Hamdan looked sick and tired, and was breathing heavily. He lay on a mattress on the floor and could hardly speak. He tried to get up to pray the first evening prayer with us, but he couldn’t do it, and went back to sitting on the floor. He leaned against the wall and told us he was hungry. We gave him some rice and cooked lentils we’d saved, but he only ate two spoonfuls and couldn’t swallow the third. We also gave him some water to drink. We saw he was getting worse. He started vomiting and gasping for air. His neighbor said he had type 1 diabetes, and was suffering from a diabetes attack and needed to be taken to a hospital immediately. We called the guards and asked them to get a doctor, but they ignored us.

At around 5:00 A.M., during roll call, we told the officer that ‘Arafat was very ill, that his health was getting worse and that he was unconscious. The officer told us he would call the medics and left. After about 20 minutes, two medics came to the cell door with an officer and guards and told us to bring ‘Arafat to the door so they could check him through it. We told them he was unconscious and couldn’t reach the door. One of the medics threatened that if we didn’t bring ‘Arafat to the door they would leave. We had to drag him unconscious to the cell door and lift him up so they could check him through it. The medic was unable to check him like that, so one of the detainees took the blood glucose meter from the medic and tested ‘Arafat. It turned out that his blood sugar was very low. I told the paramedics this was a dangerous situation and that ‘Arafat was dying, but they ignored me and left after 10 minutes with the officer and the guards that escorted them. Then they came back and took ‘Arafat to the prison infirmary. They brought him back after about an hour. He couldn’t stand, and was leaning on one of the guards who put him in the cell. The guard said Arafat needed food and drink, and I told him we had nothing to feed him. He said to wait for breakfast.

‘Arafat sat on the floor and leaned against the wall until breakfast, which was at around 9:00 A.M. He only had two bites, drank some water, and went back to leaning against the wall. He was breathing very heavily. We called the medic again to check him, and he said to call him when ‘Arafat passed away. ‘Arafat stayed like that and then went calm and stopped panting. He was still sitting with his back to the wall, and we thought he had fallen asleep. I told the detainees to let him rest for a while, but ‘Arafat didn’t wake up. After an hour and a half, we saw fluid coming out of his mouth. One of the detainees checked his pulse and shouted that ‘Arafat was dead. We started calling out to the guards and banging hard on the door. An officer and 10 guards came to the cell, and we told them that ‘Arafat was dead. They took ‘Arafat out of the room, and later I asked one of the guards about him, and he said they’d taken him to a hospital.

Four days later, the guards brought in a new detainee, who told us ‘Arafat died the day they took him out of the room. ‘Arafat needed medication and special food for his diabetes, and he had to eat often, but the prison administration didn’t care, and he died as a result of neglect and lack of food.

The guards beat us with batons and yelled at us to get up while the Israeli national anthem

One day during my time in Ofer Prison, the guards took us in groups, blindfolded and handcuffed, and threw us into a vehicle, one on top of the other. We drove a little, and then they handed us over to other guards who were masked. One of them hit me in the face with his metal helmet. They threw us out of the vehicle and we fell face down. People got their faces injured and some broke their noses. The guards beat us with batons and yelled at us to get up while the Israeli national anthem, Hatikva, was playing in the background at high volume. They forced us to sing that we love Israel and hate Hamas. They shoved fingers into our eyes and pressed hard. Anyone who raised their head was beaten on the head.

They took us to Shin Bet officers, who threatened us and talked about 7 October and what Hamas did by the border with Gaza. After that, they took us back to a vehicle that drove us back to the wing at Ofer Prison. They attacked us violently there, too, swore at us and spat in our faces.

The guards would bring dogs into our cells and set them on us while they beat us. We were attacked every day. They would take several detainees for interrogation and then bring them back severely beaten. Sometimes the detainees would come back with serious wounds and broken ribs, but they didn’t get any medical treatment. The wounds would get infected and they took a long time to heal without treatment. One detainee was brought back to the cell with a deep gash on his head and forehead and scratches on his face from a dog’s claws, as well as broken ribs and a swollen eye. He got no treatment.

I had no contact with my family during my entire time in detention, and there were no lawyer or Red Cross visits. At the end of December, I was transferred to wing 18, and then I found out that my 21-year-old son was being held on the same wing. He’s still detained. I was released with other detainees on 25 February 2024. I lost 25 kg during my detention and my health deteriorated. I now need medical care. I’d spent 14 years in prison before, but I never experienced such cruelty and humiliation.

* Testimony given to B’Tselem field researcher Manal al-Ja’bari on 19 March 2024