btselem /15 April 2024

I live with my wife Nidaa, 32, and our four children, Muhammad, 12, Zeid, 10, Adam, 8, and Iman, 7. I have another son from my first marriage, who is married and lives elsewhere. I have a BA in arts and am a wedding band manager. I also coach music bands. I used to have a mosaics studio. I’ve spent a total of six years in Israeli prisons. I was first arrested in 1989 and held for three months.

They blindfolded me and put me in a military jeep that was parked out front

On 8 October 2023, at about 2:00 A.M., I was woken by banging on our front door. I opened the door and about 10 masked soldiers came in. I saw a lot more troops surrounding the house. The leader of the force raised his mask and I recognized him as the Shinד Bet (ISA) officer “Captain Salem”, whom I know from prior arrests. He called me two days earlier, threatening to arrest me and warning me to avoid political activity. There was also another Shin Bet officer, who introduced himself as “Adib.” Captain Salem said he wanted to walk around the house. I woke my wife up and told her soldiers were there to arrest me. I asked her to pack me a bag with clothes. My son Muhammad woke up and was really scared when he saw the soldiers. When he heard they were going to arrest me, he started screaming. Then the soldiers put my wife and kids in the kids’ room, and one stood by the door pointing his gun at them. They took me to the living room. 

We stayed there for about 15 minutes, and then the soldiers tied my hands behind my back with zip ties and led me outside. One soldier dragged me violently. They blindfolded me and put me in a military jeep that was parked out front. The jeep took me to the military base in the area of Givat Haharsina in Kiryat Arba, east of Hebron. They brought four more detainees there and sat us all on the ground, which was covered in gravel. The soldiers hit the other detainees. I heard them screaming in pain and could see a bit from under the blindfold. The detainees were young, in their early twenties. The soldiers punched and kicked them, hit them with their rifle butts and swore at them. They didn’t touch me, maybe because I told them in advance about my diabetes and heart surgery, as well as my kidney problem. They didn’t even talk to me.

Ashraf al-Muhtaseb before the war and after his release. Photos courtesy of the witness

I sat on the gravel with the other detainees until evening, while the soldiers beat them on and off. They didn’t give us any food. I asked to go to the restroom and they allowed me, but they didn’t allow the young guys. They hit anyone for making the slightest move. I felt familiar symptoms of my blood sugar and heart rate rising. I asked the soldiers to let me take medication I brought with me, but they refused. I was afraid the soldiers would take revenge on us for what happened in the communities by the Gaza border, and that I’d never go home. The soldiers even refused to give us water, which really scared me because of my medical condition. Towards evening, it grew cold and I felt my limbs going numb, as if the blood was freezing in my veins. In the evening, we were transferred to the Etzion detention facility in a military vehicle. They let us out in a yard with coarse gravel and forced us to kneel on it.

We weren’t allowed to move for two hours. My knees hurt a lot. The soldiers walked between us and violently shoved us. My throat was dry, and I felt generally weak with thirst and because they didn’t let me take my medication. I was really scared. During those two hours, I asked the soldiers for the inhaler I had in my bag, but they refused. They wouldn’t give me my diabetes medication, either. After two hours they took us to be strip-searched and from there to cells. Before we were put in the cells, they took off our blindfolds and untied our hands. I received my medication in the cell. The young guys who were with me had swollen and bloody wrists from being tied. They put us in a filthy cell with a small, squalid toilet stall. We got food twice a day. The food was bad and we were given very small amounts. We ate only to survive. There was no hot water, and the shower stalls they took us to didn’t have doors. 

I’ve never seen anything like that in prison. You can’t begin to imagine the beating those guys took

The next day, they brought in another group of five young guys from the city of Bethlehem, all in their twenties. They were taken to the yard in front of us, and we watched them being beaten through the window. There were 10 soldiers there. They played loud music in the yard and brutally beat the detainees, who were handcuffed and blindfolded. They punched them, hit them with rifle butts and kicked them. One of the young guys was beaten so badly that his face and mouth bled. It was frightening. I thought they were going to kill them right there in the yard. It lasted half an hour. I’ve never seen anything like that in prison. You can’t begin to imagine the beating those guys took.

They put two of them in our cell. One of them was bleeding heavily from the head, and his clothes were soaked in blood. He stayed in our cell for two days, during which time we asked to get him a doctor, but the soldiers ignored us. The second detainee they put in the cell was so badly beaten that he couldn’t move. His whole body was bruised and his wrists were swollen, with open wounds, from the zip ties.

The next day, we heard two explosions and the soldiers ran into shelters. For two hours, we didn’t see any of them. Smoke penetrated the cells and we were afraid the prison would be bombed and no one would come to let us out. I understand Hebrew, and one time I heard a soldier say over the loudspeakers: “Get ready to party, Hamas guys have arrived.” I was in Etzion for five days, during which time I saw other detainees beaten. Then they took me along with 20 other detainees to a Shin Bet interrogation center near Ofer Prison, west of Ramallah. They left us in the vehicle for two hours and then took each one of us to be interrogated separately.

There was one Shin Bet interrogator in the room I was taken into. He talked to me as if I’d taken part in what happened on 7 October in the communities near Gaza, and held me responsible for what Hamas did there. I rejected his claims and said I had no connection to what Hamas did. After roughly half an hour of interrogation, they took me back to the military vehicle. At night, after everyone was interrogated, they took us back to Etzion. We were given nothing to eat or drink the whole day. I felt dizzy because my blood sugar went up.

The next morning, they transferred me and some other detainees to Ofer Prison in a prisoner transport vehicle. We sat on iron seats, in a large compartment with no windows. We sat inside for four hours before the van started driving. When we got there, they led us down a corridor in the prison with guards standing on either side of us. One of them was holding about 10 dogs on a leash, and they tried to attack us. I was terrified. I was sure they would set the dogs on us. Then we were strip-searched and I was forced to undress. They gave us prison uniforms and I was taken to wing 24, which had 220 inmates of all ages in 20 cells.

Next to us was a special wing for prisoners from Gaza, which was run by the Initial Response Force (IRF). Before I was put in cell 18, I waited for 10 minutes outside the wing for Gaza inmates. I saw IRF people leading about 10 detainees, naked, blindfolded and in iron handcuffs, with their heads down. Then they knocked them to the floor and started beating them with batons and kicking them. The screams filled the corridor between the cells. Later, when I was already in the cell, I heard screaming like that all day long, and even at night. I was terrified and thought the prison might become a new Guantanamo.

Then they put me in cell 18. I wanted to ask the guards what happened to the Hamas detainees but was afraid they would attack me, too, so I kept quiet. We were 11 inmates in the cell. Six slept on beds and five on the floor, and two even had to share a mattress. Each of us had one blanket, and there were no pillows. There were no media devices like a TV or radio. There was nothing in the cell except the beds and mattresses. There were no windowpanes, either. The guards took them out of the windows and we were cold. As for the food, it didn’t arrive regularly, wasn’t enough for everyone and wasn’t nutritious. Smoking wasn’t allowed and there was no coffee. The canteen was closed. The showers were in the outer courtyards, and we were only given a short time to use them.

I was there for eight days. On 26 October 2023, I was transferred to the Negev Prison (Ketziot) along with 80 other detainees. When they took us out to the prison yard on the way to the bus, members of the Nachshon unit were walking around there with 13 huge dogs. Again and again, they let the dogs come near us and try to attack us, and then pulled them back at the last minute. I’d never experienced such terror. My hands and feet were in iron cuffs and one of the guards held me, pressed my head and bent it down. They did the same to the other detainees. When I got near the door of the bus, four people from the unit hit and kicked me in different parts of my body. When I got on the bus, one of them grabbed my head from behind and slammed it against the door several times. They swore at me and at the others, and used offensive lanuage against our mothers and sisters. All the beating, humiliation and swearing at us on the bus affected me very badly.

The drive took three hours. When we got the Negev Prison, people from Nachshon took us off the bus in the same brutal way. Then they crammed us, 50 people, into a waiting room that couldn’t hold 20. The IRF was in charge there. There was no light in the room and no water. I felt as if I was in a small grave. After half an hour, I had trouble breathing and felt exhausted. My blood sugar was high and my heart was racing. I really felt I was about to die. Later on, a female soldier came and opened a small window. Then they opened the door and started calling out our names, to take us to cells one by one. When it was my turn, a guard ordered me to lower my head and then one of them grabbed my hands and twisted them behind my back. They led me along for about 500 meters, hitting me hard on the way until I fell down, and then they kicked me in different parts of my body.

During the attack, they pulled all my clothes off, including my underwear. I heard them say to each other, “This one is sick,” but they kept on hitting me anyway. I felt I was going to pass out. Finally, they ordered me to get dressed. I could hardly pull my clothes on, and the whole time they kept kicking me. My waist really hurt and I could hardly breathe. I couldn’t move, let alone walk. I stayed lying on the floor, until three of them pulled and dragged me by my arms. It was terrible, indescribable. I felt near death. While they were dragging me, I saw the blood of other detainees on the floor. I was bleeding, too, from my right arm. I hadn’t even noticed.

They took me to wing 27 and threw me on the ground in the yard. Again, they kicked me a few times all over my body. Then they ordered me to stand up, but I couldn’t. Then they dragged me by the arms, again, to cell 3, and threw me down next to the door. They opened the door and one of them brought a big bottle of shampoo and poured it on the floor, just inside the door. Then they put me on the shampoo and kicked me across the cell. I slid until my right shoulder hit a bed frame and was injured. I’m still suffering from that injury.

When I was put in the cell, there were no inmates inside. There were only iron beds, with no blankets, mattresses or anything else. Then the guards brought in more detainees, the same way they put me in. Most of them got bruised or injured when they hit the beds. One bled from the nose. We stayed lying like that for half an hour. We were in total shock from what happened to us and couldn’t move. There were 12 of us in the cell.

The cell lacked the most basic items for subsistence. We slept on the floor for four nights, without blankets or mattresses. On the first day, the guards didn’t even bring us any food. My body was already so weak that I was expecting to die at any moment. I didn’t even dare ask for my medicine, because I was afraid they would beat me or other inmates if I did. In the following days, they brought us one meal a day, at night. It consisted of some rice, half a tomato, half a cucumber, and three slices of bread for each inmate.

During roll call, we had to kneel on the floor with our heads bent down to the ground and our hands on our heads

We were counted three times a day. During roll call, we had to kneel on the floor with our heads bent down to the ground and our hands on our heads. They took photos of us in that position.

On the fifth day, IRF people transferred all 12 of us in the cell to wing 28. They kicked and slapped us all the way to cell 3. It was during evening prayers, and the guards heard someone calling out for prayers. They threw a stun grenade in the cell they put us in, and quickly went to cell 1. They attacked everyone in the cell and we heard the inmates screaming. They beat them relentlessly for half an hour.

We stayed on that wing for 10 days. The scariest part of that period was at night. Unit members would suddenly come into the cell, explicitly threaten to kill us and beat us badly. They also played loud music at night. We still had no blankets or mattresses. We barely survived those 10 days. We felt that death was hovering over us every minute. Then we were transferred to wing 22, 500 meters away from the cell we were in. IRF people came and took us there, handcuffed and with our heads down, and treated us very violently all the way. I was punched about 50 times all over my body. I fell on the floor, and four IRF people beat me for five minutes as punishment. Then they dragged me by the hands down about 20 iron stairs, kicking my legs along the way.

During the transfer, they shouted orders at us to curse Sinwar and Hamas. The violence was so bad that we had no choice but to curse Hamas and do everything they told us, just so the guards would stop beating us. The helplessness was awful. We were completely cut off from the world. They took us to cell 14, where we were held for five days, also without any blankets or mattresses. After five days, they brought each inmate a mattress.

On 18 November 2023, during roll call, five IRF members and a lot of guards led by an officer came into the cell and attacked us, claiming they were looking for a radio. They beat us with batons, punched us and kicked us all over our bodies. They brought a dog into the cell, which attacked a young detainee and scratched his back badly.

Everyone around me was screaming in pain, and some inmates were crying. Most were bleeding

We were all badly injured in that attack. When it was over, we lay on the floor. I leaned against a wall. I had broken ribs and was injured in my right shoulder, my right thumb, and a finger on my left hand. I couldn’t move or breathe for half an hour. Everyone around me was screaming in pain, and some inmates were crying. Most were bleeding. It was a nightmare beyond words. The officer told us he’d be back in the evening.

We lay there and waited, scared to death, but we weren’t attacked again that night. IRF people attacked inmates in other cells that night. It was so violent that their screams filled the prison. The next day we learned that IRF people had killed a detainee named Thaer Abu ‘Asab. That night, the guards held a party on wing 21. They played loud music, danced with female soldiers and cursed Hamas and Sinwar.

I was on that wing for more than five months. After the news of Abu ‘Asab’s death, they beat us less frequently. Five days after that attack, they came and told me they were taking me to the infirmary. Four Israeli Prison Service (IPS) people escorted me, but instead of reaching an infirmary, they suddenly put me in a room, pushed me down to the floor and started beating me and kicking my legs. Then they took me back to the cell, without even seeing a doctor. That whole time, I was given one diabetes pill once a day and didn’t get the other medication I need. My body grew very weak. We got a small amount of food, and even drinking water was limited: we were allowed one bottle of water a day for all of us. They cut off the water supply in the tap and only turned it on for one hour a day. There was an awful stench from the toilet. Serious skin diseases spread among the inmates, including a type of scabies.

There wasn’t any lighting either, day or night, aside from three minutes during roll call. We were forbidden to pray. During roll call, we had to kneel with our heads bent down to the floor, like you do when praying.

One day, they came into the cell again and beat us very violently, claiming we had a cigarette lighter in the cell. An IRF guy kicked me in the left ear and I still can’t hear out of it. It went on like that until I was released, after six months of administrative detention.

The day I was released, 7 April 2024, in the afternoon, they tied my hands behind my back with iron handcuffs, cuffed my legs and blindfolded me. Then one of the guards grabbed me roughly by the neck and led me 500 meters to a waiting room. On the way I was hit again and again on the back, cursed and humiliated, and I felt I might pass out. I didn’t know where I was going. No one told me I was being released. They threw me in a filthy waiting room with two other detainees. From there, they later took me to get strip-searched. They stripped me while my eyes were still covered, beating me in the process. They said, “You’re Hamas” and hit different parts of my body while I was completely naked.

Then they took me back to the waiting room, and from there to the prison warden’s room. He signed a piece of paper and then I was taken back to the waiting room. On the way there, I was kicked some more. After an hour, they handcuffed me and the other two young guys and led us to the prison bus, which drove us to Meitar Crossing, south of Hebron. We were released there. I have no idea why they hit us so much on the day we were released. After all, they didn’t charge us with anything.

When they let me out at Meitar, I couldn’t walk after all the beating. So I crawled about 100 meters. It was Ramadan and there was hardly anyone out on the streets. At some point, someone stopped and drove me home.

When my wife and kids saw me, my wife collapsed and fainted. One of my kids even asked, “Who are you and where’s my dad?” We got home and I only spent a few minutes there before they took me to the hospital. At the hospital they ran all sorts of tests, including a CT scan, and gave me injections. They found broken bones, bruises and bone damage. Seven of my ribs were injured and my left hand was broken in three places. I still can’t hear out of my left ear because of the kicking. From there I was transferred to another hospital in Halhul, where they ran more tests and discharged me.

I got home in very poor health. The pain was so bad, I couldn’t sleep. I had shortness of breath, headaches and a loud ringing in my ears. Finally, I went back to the hospital in Hebron. They ran more tests and gave me more injections and medication. They sent me home and I have to go back for a checkup.

When I was arrested, I weighed 96 kilos. I left prison weighing 65 kilos.

A week after I was released, I was summoned for a meeting with the Shin Bet. On Sunday, 14 April 2024, I went to Etzion even though I was still in very bad health. I met a Shin Bet officer there, and he threatened to arrest me again if I got involved in anything security-related. Then they let me go home.

In this testimony, I tried to detail some of what I remember from my ordeal of torment, abuse and cruel treatment in Israeli prisons. But what I suffered is nothing compared to the brutal abuse of detainees from Gaza. I saw how they were held entirely naked, with their hands and feet tied, out in the cold yard. When they were given food, they weren’t untied. They had to eat kneeling on the ground like animals, while male and female prison guards beat them, swore at them and abused them. Every prisoner in the world is entitled to rights – but since 7 October, there have been no rights here. The people who did all these things are civil servants.

I’m 53 years old. I’ve been in prison several times. In all my previous times in prison, I never experienced or witnessed that kind of beating, humiliation and brutality. This time, I learned two phrases: “Head down” and “that’s all there is,” when we asked for more reasonable food.

* Testimony given to B’Tselem field researcher Manal al-Ja’bari on 15 April 2024