Hebron, occupied West Financial institution – After eight months in Israeli prisons with out being charged or processed, 18-year-old Mohammad Salhab Tamimi was lastly capable of return to his household as a part of an ongoing prisoner trade deal.
His boyish face was severe as he embraced his mother and father and stood, barely bewildered, as if he was uncertain whether or not to talk to the press or not.
He had been by way of rather a lot up to now eight months of uncertainty, torment that solely elevated for the reason that begin of the Al-Aqsa Flood operation on October 7.
The very last thing he was advised by the forbidding Israeli jail guards was that he can be rearrested and put again into the limbo of administrative detention if his household and associates confirmed any indicators of celebrating his return.
“’Tell your friends [they said]’… If we have a big celebration, I will return to prison,” he recalled.
Cautious of the Israeli navy checkpoint and unlawful settlement subsequent to their dwelling, his household stored their happiness on mute, with solely the speedy household and a few uncles current.
Shackled, kicked round, humiliated
Fortunately for the household, smiles don’t make any noise, and no person may cease the grins on his mom Fatima and father Murshid’s faces as they held tightly to their “little boy”.
Their boy was among the many fourth batch of Palestinian prisoners to be launched from Ofer jail close to Ramallah within the small hours of Tuesday in a single day. As much as the final minute, he had not been positive what was occurring to him.
At 7am (05:00 GMT) on Monday, November 27, a guard at Rimon Jail demanded that Mohammad get able to be transferred to Ofer Jail. That was all; nothing in regards to the motive why he was being moved. Simply advised to strip off utterly, placed on only a gray jail sweatsuit, and collect all his belongings.
“I put my garments in a kind of plastic envelopes and walked to the cell door the place they cuffed my fingers and compelled my head down so I used to be wanting on the floor.
“The officer then kicked me, exhausting. His boots have metal in them, so it felt like he crushed my ft, it actually harm.
“He dragged me to the prison yard but, as he was dragging me out of the prison, he stopped to take my clothes from me and threw them into a garbage pail. Then, cursing me with obscene language, he dragged me out,” Mohammad recalled haltingly.
Mohammad was loaded right into a prisoner switch automobile often known as a “bosta” – a van with blacked-out home windows and tight cells with steel seats, to which prisoners are chained.
Bosta rides can take 12 hours or extra. There aren’t any relaxation stops, meals, or rest room breaks. “I was kept in the vehicle cell without anything to eat or drink until after midnight,” mentioned Mohammad.
His father and uncle had been standing there exterior Ofer, ready for him, when he was lastly launched within the wee hours on Tuesday so they may drive him dwelling to Hebron within the south of the occupied West Financial institution.
A choice to humiliate
Issues had been extra disagreeable than common in jail after October 7, which was when Hamas launched a shock assault from Gaza on southern Israel killing some 1,200 individuals.
Individuals held in a number of establishments have reported extreme beatings, denial of medical consideration, lawyer and household visits, yard time, electrical energy, water, and hygiene necessities from the jail store.
At the very least six Palestinian prisoners died or had been killed in Israeli custody since October 7, together with some shortly after their arrest.
Israel’s relentless bombing of the Gaza Strip after the Hamas assault lasted 48 days and killed greater than 15,000 Palestinians, together with greater than 6,000 kids.
On the forty ninth day, Friday, a four-day “humanitarian pause” negotiated by Egypt and Qatar started. Each side mentioned they might launch captives – Hamas would launch batches of individuals it took captive on October 7 in return for 3 times as many Palestinians held – with and with out trigger – in Israeli detention amenities.
Because the exchanges continued and optimism rose, the truce was prolonged by two days to maintain the exchanges going.
Over the identical days that it launched some 150 Palestinian detainees, Israel arrested 133 individuals, almost as many, from the occupied West Financial institution and East Jerusalem, in response to Palestinian prisoner associations. Since October 7, Israel carried out 3,290 arrests in the identical areas, which it has occupied since 1967.
Mohammad just isn’t the primary launched particular person to say that there’s excessive overcrowding in Israeli prisons.
“There were 10 prisoners shoved into cells that only had six beds. We used to have to spread blankets or something on the floor to sleep,” he mentioned.
The quantity of meals they got was inadequate, because it was additionally for six prisoners, not 10. The cellmates needed to ration what meals they acquired rigorously.
A number of prisoners had been injured in the future as nicely, Mohammad mentioned, when jail guards attacked two sections of Rimon Jail
Except for accidents and the reported deaths, Mohammad mentioned: “The [Israeli] occupation had pretty much decided that they would humiliate the prisoners, ever since the outbreak of Al-Aqsa Storm.”
Lower off from any information of the surface world, the detainees discovered themselves stripped of just about every thing, together with all possessions that had been of their cells like utensils and home equipment, they used to make issues slightly extra nice. They had been disadvantaged of shopping for hygiene provides, together with laundry detergent, and barred from utilizing the washing machines to clean their garments.
Jail authorities additionally stored the prisoners away from their solely outlet to let off some steam – the “fora”, or jail yard, and prevented them from making any noise.
“I used to like making the decision to prayer from inside my cell so the entire part may hear, however that too was forbidden.
“It felt like they didn’t want us to even breathe.”