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 in a position to return to his household as a part of an ongoing prisoner change deal.
His boyish face was severe as he embraced his dad and mom and stood, barely bewildered, as if he was uncertain whether or not to talk to the press or not.
He had been by lots up to now eight months of uncertainty, torment that solely elevated because the begin of the Al-Aqsa Flood operation on October 7.
The very last thing he was instructed 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 pals confirmed any indicators of celebrating his return.
“’Inform your pals [they said]’… If we now have a giant celebration, I’ll return to jail,” he recalled.
Cautious of the Israeli army checkpoint and unlawful settlement subsequent to their residence, his household saved their happiness on mute, with solely the quick household and a few uncles current.
Shackled, kicked round, humiliated
Fortunately for the household, smiles don’t make any noise, and no person might 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 certain 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 purpose why he was being moved. Simply instructed 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 arms and compelled my head down so I used to be trying on the floor.
“The officer then kicked me, laborious. His boots have metal in them, so it felt like he crushed my ft, it actually damage.
“He dragged me to the jail yard however, as he was dragging me out of the jail, he stopped to take my garments from me and threw them right into a rubbish pail. Then, cursing me with obscene language, he dragged me out,” Mohammad recalled haltingly.
Mohammad was loaded right into a prisoner switch car 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 are not any relaxation stops, meals, or rest room breaks. “I used to be saved within the car cell with out something to eat or drink till after midnight,” stated 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 might drive him residence to Hebron within the south of the occupied West Financial institution.
A choice to humiliate
Issues had been extra disagreeable than standard in jail after October 7, which was when Hamas launched a shock assault from Gaza on southern Israel killing some 1,200 folks.
Folks 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.
A minimum of 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. Either side stated 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 services.
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 folks, 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 is just not the primary launched particular person to say that there’s excessive overcrowding in Israeli prisons.
“There have been 10 prisoners shoved into cells that solely had six beds. We used to need to unfold blankets or one thing on the ground to sleep,” he stated.
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 fastidiously.
A number of prisoners had been injured in the future as nicely, Mohammad stated, when jail guards attacked two sections of Rimon Jail
Apart from accidents and the reported deaths, Mohammad stated: “The [Israeli] occupation had just about determined that they might humiliate the prisoners, ever because the outbreak of Al-Aqsa Storm.”
Minimize 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 a bit of 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 saved 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 might hear, however that too was forbidden.
“It felt like they didn’t need us to even breathe.”
