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Palestinian children released from Israeli prison reunite with their families and friends in Ramallah, West Bank, on November 26, 2023. Photo/Issam Rimawi/Anadolu Agency
GAZA – The latest batch of Palestinian children released by Israel as part of a ceasefire agreement with Hamas have spoken about their experiences in prison.
They admitted to being beaten, tortured, abused, deliberately starved and deliberately deprived of information about what was happening in the world outside the prison walls.
According to Yousef Burqan, a resident of the Al-Thawri neighborhood in Jerusalem, he was beaten by Israeli prison officials, before being released as part of an exchange deal with Palestinian fighters in Gaza.
He expressed his hope that all Palestinian prisoners would be released due to the extremely difficult conditions inside Israeli prisons.
Qusay Taqatqa from Bethlehem was arrested last year when he was 16 years old. He explained that he and his fellow prisoners heard about the Hamas operation on October 7 via radio, after which prison officials confiscated all televisions and radios and “completely changed” the way they treated the prisoners.
“The treatment of the prison administration was very barbaric for 50 days. They took all our belongings. “Family visits or even communication are not allowed,” he said.
“The conditions of our detention in the occupation prisons are very harsh,” said Omar Al-Shwaiki. “When the occupation authorities arrested me, I was 15 years old, and the detention room had 12 prisoners, although it actually only had six people.”
He pointed out the prisoners suffered “inhumane” conditions. “It was very cruel, and there were many children between the ages of 13 and 15 who were detained by the occupation,” he explained.
Yasser Zaaymeh also touched on inhumane conditions. “The occupying forces treated us with violence while we were detained and treated us harshly. “They beat prisoners,” he said.
He is being held in Megiddo prison. “I witnessed the death of a number of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel,” he explained.