‘We Died a Thousand Times’: Freed Palestinian Detainees Describe Horrific Torture
By Romana Rubeo
From sound torture to amputations, Palestinians released under the ceasefire describe a brutal system of repression inside Israeli prisons.
Hundreds of Palestinians released from Israeli prisons in recent days have described scenes of systematic torture, starvation, and humiliation.
Their accounts, gathered by The Guardian, TRT, Al-Mayadeen, Quds News Network, and Palestine Online, among others, offer a rare glimpse into what human rights organizations call a “policy of abuse” targeting Palestinian detainees.
According to the reports, many of the freed prisoners returned to Gaza emaciated, injured, and traumatized, some learning only after their release that their families had been killed during Israel’s war on the besieged Strip.
‘My Joy Went with Her’
In testimony published by The Guardian, 33-year-old Naseem al-Radee recalled the moment Israeli prison guards “gave him a farewell gift” before his release.
“They bound his hands, placed him on the ground and beat him without mercy,” the report said, describing how Radee’s first sight of Gaza after nearly two years was “blurry,” the result of a boot to the eye.
Radee, a government employee from Beit Lahia, was kidnapped by Israeli soldiers at a displacement shelter in Gaza in December 2023. He spent 22 months in detention, including 100 days in an underground cell, before being released alongside 1,700 other Palestinians this week under the ceasefire agreement.
“They used teargas and rubber bullets to intimidate us, in addition to constant verbal abuse and insults,” The Guardian cited Radee as saying regarding his time in Nafha prison in the Naqab desert.
“They had a strict system of repression; the electronic gate of the section would open when the soldiers entered, and they would come in with their dogs, shouting ‘on your stomach, on your stomach,’ and start beating us mercilessly,” the testimony continued.
According to the report, cramped and unsanitary cells, fungal infections, starvation, and routine beatings defined his captivity. Upon release, Radee tried to call his wife, only to learn that she and all but one of his children had been killed during his detention.
“I was very happy to be released because the date coincided with my youngest daughter Saba’s third birthday,” he said. “I tried to find some joy in being released on this day, but sadly, Saba went with my family, and my joy went with her.”
Sound Torture
Also speaking to The Guardian, 22-year-old university student Mohammed al-Asaliya described contracting scabies in prison and being denied treatment.
“There was no medical care,” he said. “We tried to treat ourselves by using floor disinfectant on our wounds, but it only made them worse. The mattresses were filthy, the environment unhealthy, our immunity weak, and the food contaminated.”
He recalled an area “they called ‘the disco,’ where they played loud music nonstop for two days straight.”
The sound torture, he said, was combined with physical abuse: “They also hung us on walls, sprayed us with cold air and water, and sometimes threw chilli powder on detainees.”
By the time of his release, Asaliya’s weight had dropped from 75 kilograms to 42.
‘We Died a Thousand Times a Day’
In testimony recorded by Palestine Online, journalist and former detainee Shadi Abu Sido described what he called “unimaginable torture.”
“They used to say: ‘Take, eat.’ But I didn’t want anything for myself. About 1,800 of us were released, and thousands are still inside,” Abu Sido recounted.
“If you die once a day, we have died a thousand times a day, each day. We didn’t know the day, the hour, or even the date. We forgot what sleep feels like, how food tastes. In the middle of the night, they would splash water on us, in our cells.”
In another video posted by Palestine Online, Abu Sido added:
“They torture and abuse us in every possible way, physically and psychologically. We don’t sleep; they threaten us about our children. ‘We killed your children, we killed your children. There is no Gaza’.”
“I entered Gaza and I found a scene from the Day of Judgment,” he said.
‘I Made This for My Daughter’
In a video published by Al-Mayadeen, another recently freed detainee collapsed in tears as he learned that his entire family had been killed. Holding a handmade toy he crafted in prison, he said:
“My children are dead. I made this for my daughter. Her birthday was on October 18; my daughter was two years old. Bara is eight years old. My beloved ones have been killed.”
‘They Amputated My Leg’
Speaking to TRT World, Palestinian prisoner Jibril al-Safadi described the brutality that cost him his leg:
“My leg was amputated in prison due to severe torture. The situation was tough: relentless suffering. There were savage beatings and horrible torture,” he said. “They transferred me to Sde Teiman. There was no medical care. They amputated my right leg.
We faced everything you can expect, even the dogs’ raping, torturing of detainees. Killing men is usual, like it’s an ordinary thing.”
A System of Abuse
The Guardian report cited Palestinian medical officials in Gaza who confirmed that many detainees arrived “in poor physical health,” bearing “bruises, fractures, wounds, and marks from restraints that had bound their hands tightly.”
Eyad Qaddih, the director of public relations at Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza, reportedly said many of the released prisoners had to be transferred to the emergency room. “The signs of beating and torture were clearly visible,” he told The Guardian.
The report cited the Israeli NGO Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI), as saying that about 2,800 Palestinians from Gaza remain in Israeli prisons without charge.
Most were detained under emergency laws amended after October 7, 2023, allowing for indefinite administrative detention of anyone deemed an “unlawful combatant.”
PCATI’s executive director, Tal Steiner, said that “the amount and scale of torture and abuse in Israeli prisons and military camps has skyrocketed since October 7.” She described the escalation as “part of a policy led by Israeli decision-makers such as Itamar Ben-Gvir and others.”
Ben-Gvir, Israel’s far-right National Security Minister, has repeatedly bragged about providing Palestinian prisoners with “the minimum of the minimum” food and supplies.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
– Romana Rubeo is an Italian writer and the managing editor of The Palestine Chronicle. Her articles appeared in many online newspapers and academic journals. She holds a Master’s Degree in Foreign Languages and Literature and specializes in audio-visual and journalism translation.
Treatment worse than the gas chamber and medical experimentation used by the Germans and the Zionists claim it is just. There are many, many Zionists headed for the ICJ - soon!
If this is the “most moral army in the world”, I shudder to think what the rest of the western countries do.