Mohammed Qudaih, 28, could not believe that he was able to survive and return home after the Israeli occupation forces released him at the Beit Hanoun (Erez) crossing in the northern Gaza Strip. He had to walk home with others who had been detained with him, late at night.
Qudaih gave Al-Akhbar an account of his multiple brushes with death. First, the young man escaped certain death as Israeli tanks bombed his family’s home in Khuza'a east of Khan Younis (southern Gaza), killing his 60-year-old father in front of him and injuring several members of his family. As they tried to flee, Israeli soldiers detained him with two of his brothers, while the women and children were able to leave.
“The occupation forces took us along with 50 others from the town, [to an area] behind the fence,” said Qudaih. “We sat through the night for more than 10 hours in an empty [piece of] land, before they took us to an unknown location.”
They could hear the sound of shelling and clashes, and felt the fighting was moving closer to their location. They were handcuffed, shackled and blindfolded, and nearly naked, after the Israelis forced them to undress.
Qudaih said that they sat on the ground side by side. They were prevented from talking. “We wished we were dead rather than face this humiliation,” the young man added.
They were then taken to an interrogation center, where they were told they were in the custody of Israeli intelligence, and that they had to answer questions. But even before any questions were asked, the investigators started beating them violently.
“They asked us about Resistance fighters, where they lived, how they moved, and whether we knew any of them. They also focused on the locations of the tunnels, who dug them, and where the rockets were being launched from.”According to Qudaih, the detainees were denied sleep and food throughout the four days they were held.
The worst thing in this episode, according to Qudaih, was that after their interrogation, they were taken to an open area where they started running while the soldiers fired their machine guns between their legs. The soldiers then threatened to execute them if they did not confess and answer their questions
“They were saying to one another in Arabic, we will kill them,” continued Qudaih, “but several hours later, they released us.”
The last part of the harrowing episode took place when the detainees left the Beit Hanoun crossing. They were released after 10 pm, when the bombardment was still ongoing.
Qudaih said,
“They did not release us all in one go, but one by one. We walked on foot a considerable distance even though we were exhausted, until we reached the town of Beit Hanoun.”
He then concluded his account by saying,
“We were facing certain death, whether from drones or snipers, or even by mistake from Resistance fighters who could have mistaken us for spies, especially since we had left the crossing late at night.”
Some citizens in the area saw that one of the detainees was wounded and notified the Red Cross, which brought ambulances and inquired about the detainees. The paramedics then waited there for the rest to come, and took them to Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia nearby.
During their detention, the Israeli army published the photographs of dozens of detainees, claiming they were Resistance fighters captured during its incursion. The Resistance responded in several statements by stressing the pictures were of unarmed civilians from Khuza'a.
According to insiders involved in the negotiations taking place in Cairo, Israel told the Palestinian delegation a few days ago that it has prisoners and bodies belonging to Palestinians, and proposed a deal to swap those for the bodies of two Israeli soldiers, one of whom the Resistance had declared having but without clarifying whether he was alive or dead.
In the same vein, Palestinian Legislative Council member and former Minister of Prisoners Issa Qaraqe said that publishing photographs of the humiliation of prisoners was “an inhumane act meant to demoralize, indicating that the Israeli army was unable to achieve anything.”
Speaking to Al-Akhbar, he said that Israel, by using those pictures, was trying to impress the Israeli public into thinking that their army had made achievements by making it look as though the detainees were combatants, when they were actually all civilians. Qaraqe said that around 300 citizens were apprehended in Gaza during the war, and that they are being detained in a prison outside the boundaries of the Gaza Strip.
The Palestinian official also said that the Palestinian side has testimonies stating that the Israeli army executed prisoners by shooting them directly after capturing them, and also executed civilians who had surrendered during Israeli raids on populated areas in Gaza.
This article is an edited translation from the Arabic Edition.
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