Palestinian workers who were sent back to Gaza from Israel last week say that Israeli authorities treated them very badly. They claim that they were forced to remove their clothes, kept in cages, severely beaten, and one worker even said they were given electric shocks.
“They hurt us and hit us with batons and metal sticks. they made us feel embarrassed. they made us suffer from hunger and thirst,” said Muqbel Abdullah Al Radia, another worker, to CNN.
Most people from Gaza who have jobs work in building things or growing crops. They usually stay away from home for weeks instead of traveling back and forth, which is why many of them were in Israel when Hamas carried out a terrorist attack on Saturday, October 7th.
Al Radia said that when the war started, he and some of the other workers from Gaza ran away to Rahat, a city mostly inhabited by Arab Bedouins in the south of Israel. He claims that the local people gave them to the Israeli army.
“They took away our phones and money, so we couldn’t talk to our families. They gave us food on the ground in plastic bags,” he explained.
When the attack by Hamas on Israel happened on October 7, the Israeli media initially worried that the attackers were among the workers who had permits to be in the country. However, a security official from Israel later said to CNN that the men were actually detained because their work permits were taken away, not because they were suspected of being terrorists.
The security official said that sometimes, they kept certain people in detention to keep them safe because they were in danger of being harmed by Israeli communities.
Six groups in Israel that protect people’s rights have asked a court to review and decide if these detentions were done against the law and without a good reason.
Gisha, an organization in Israel that helps Palestinians move freely, said last week in a statement that it believes the conditions for people held in these facilities were very bad. They think the detainees were treated badly, including being hurt physically and emotionally, and that the conditions were not humane.
A lot of the workers are saying they didn’t know where they were being brought to. The Palestinian Prisoners Society, a human rights group in the occupied West Bank, said that a lot of people were kept in two detention places – one in Ofer near Ramallah and another in Salem near Jenin.
Another worker from Beit Lahiya, Mahmoud Abu Darabeh, said that he was beaten by Israeli forces.
Abu Darabeh said that he was captured on the second day of the war. “He said that we were locked up in cages like dogs. They hurt us, said mean things to us, and didn’t care if we were sick or not. Some of us got hurt, and our feet became infected because we didn’t receive any medical help. ”
The men had to answer a lot of questions every day from the Israeli authorities about their houses and family.
If one of your family members is a police officer of Hamas, you might get physically hurt. I know some people whose rib cage was completely broken, and sadly, some people even died because they were tortured. ” He shared this with CNN.
He also explained how some of the workers died while they were in detention or when they were trying to cross into Gaza.
“Abu Darabeh mentioned that a few individuals passed away while coming here because they were physically attacked and given electric shocks. ” He said he saw other people being shocked while they were detained.
A person from Israel said to CNN that the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) knew about some cases where IDF soldiers treated Gazan workers badly.
There have been incidents of mistreatment of people who are being held outside of the authorized detention centers. These incidents were taken very seriously, and the people responsible were punished,” the official said using a translator. They told us that four soldiers were fired from the IDF because of abusive behavior, and two soldiers were put in military prison for their actions.
When the official was asked if any of the prisoners died because they were treated badly, they said that they knew about two deaths of workers from Gaza who were held in custody. However, they explained that these deaths were not caused by mistreatment, but by existing health problems that the workers had before they came to Israel.
The official said that, as far as he knew, these abuses did not involve electric shocks.
CNN watched some of the videos that show the claimed mistreatment, but they are not able to confirm if they are true or not. They have videos of people who are being kept somewhere against their will, with their hands and feet bound, sitting under the hot sun, and being hurt and moved forcefully. There is a video where a lot of people on a bus are blindfolded and their hands are tied.
The security official told CNN that the IDF is looking into these videos. They confirmed that two of the videos are real. One video shows IDF soldiers kicking someone who was detained, and another video shows a big group of detainees who were tied up, blindfolded, and treated badly. The IDF punished soldiers who were in these videos, according to the official.
The army says that the behavior shown in the video is terrible and goes against their rules. The text says that some soldiers and reserve soldiers in the videos have been temporarily stopped from doing their jobs.
The people that CNN talked to were some of the workers from Gaza who had permission to work in Israel. Hamas attacked Israel and killed many people, including kidnapping others.
As a reaction to the attacks, Israel started a non-stop bombing on Gaza. The defense minister, Yoav Gallant, also ordered a total blockade on the area.
Before the October 7 attacks, around 18,000 people from Gaza had permission to go to Israel for work. This is because the wages in Israel are much higher, sometimes ten times more, than in Gaza.
Before anyone was given a permit, the Israeli authorities would have made sure they were thoroughly checked for security purposes.
Right after the attack, Israel took away the workers’ permits from Gaza. This made it against the law for them to stay in the country. Because they couldn’t go back to Gaza, many people attempted to escape to the occupied West Bank.
“They stopped us from doing what we needed to do. We tried to go to the West Bank, but they stopped us and kept us in unknown places. They tied our arms, covered our eyes, and took us on buses. There were around 200 to 300 of us trapped between metal fences. They hurt us and questioned us every day and night,” said one worker who spoke to CNN. Another man, who did not give his name, shared a similar story of mistreatment.
Many workers told CNN that they were forced to have their eyes covered and their hands tied up for a long time. Some people said they were kept in a separate area that was enclosed by a fence. They mentioned that this made the weather extremely hot during the day and very cold during the night.
The security official said that in the beginning, some places didn’t have shade, but they fixed this within a few days. The person in charge said that the detainees were only held down when moving from one place to another.
On Friday, when they went into Gaza, a lot of men seemed very filled with strong feelings. When CNN asked people questions, many were too afraid to share their personal information because they were worried about being treated badly.
One man, who lives in the Al-Maghazi refugee camp, cried as he explained how they were forced into small metal enclosures and not allowed to sleep, which is a well-known type of torture.
Every so often, they approached us and requested us to get up. “Get up, sit down, get up, sit down, get up,” he said. In one spot, there were about 150 of us inside a metal box. It had a strong, unpleasant smell. I believe it was previously used for raising chickens or rabbits.
Another worker from Al-Zaytun Quarter in Gaza City also told CNN that he and other detainees were forced to repeatedly stand up and sit down.
“They harmed us, stole our money, removed our clothes, and left us naked. ”
He said that he had been wearing only his underwear for more than 20 days.
Dehumanization and Insults
Amani Sarahneh, who speaks for the Palestinian Prisoners Society, said that some of these men were taken into custody while traveling to the West Bank, while others were detained within the West Bank itself.
The men wanted to go to the occupied West Bank, but Israel took away their permits. This made their stay in Israel illegal, but it was difficult for them to go back to Gaza because the border crossings were closed by both Israel and Egypt. They thought it would be safer for them to be in an area controlled by Palestinians instead of needing permits for the West Bank.
Sarahneh told CNN that the organization doesn’t know how many men were held, even though they tried many times to get information from the Israeli authorities.
Sarahneh told CNN that many of the workers shared similar experiences.
She said that many people talked about being very hungry and getting hurt every day. They were tied up and kept away from others. Some videos have been shared online, showing how the Palestinians in jail are treated badly and not like humans.
“They were not accused of any wrongdoing, but they were questioned and subjected to severe torture, abuse, and physical violence. They were treated inhumanely and were insulted,” she explained.
Dror Sadot, who speaks for B’Tselem, an organization that advocates for human rights in the areas under Israeli control, stated that the recent attacks by Hamas on October 7th have resulted in a significant increase in violence against Palestinians.
She said on CNN that the mistreatment of Palestinians is happening from the highest authority, with important people not considering Palestinians as human.
She said that the strong words and the intense anger about the crimes committed by Hamas slowly affects the individual soldiers, who then treat any Palestinian with extreme anger.
Sadot said that they are not convinced by the IDF’s handling of abuse cases based on their long-term experience.
“She said that we have been looking into this for a long time. The military system of enforcement acts as a way to cover up wrongdoing, hardly leading to any charges. ” “So people might argue that those cases are rare and not typical, but if soldiers keep getting away with their actions, and if the military policy itself allows this, without any consequences for their actions, then things will just keep happening,” she said.
Tired and hurt, but extremely happy to be back
Some people look old, tired, and very sweaty, while others seem to be hurt.
At least three people have serious cuts on their wrists that look like they were caused by being tied up.
Most of the men don’t have any personal items except for the clothes they’re wearing.
A 58-year-old man named Mohamed Atallah was wearing a plastic tag on his wrist.
He showed CNN a list of his things taken away in prison that were never given back to him.
Some workers who returned to Gaza on Friday said that Israeli authorities put them on buses that took them to the crossing into Gaza, where they were left.
They had no choice but to walk for about three hours in order to enter the enclave, according to some people who spoke to CNN.
The workers went into the Gaza Strip, and a video from CNN showed that some of them knelt down and began to pray.
They knelt down and pressed their foreheads against the ground, expressing gratitude to God for returning to Gaza. It has become an unbearable place since they were last here.
We were in a very bad condition, I promise. Bilal Aysha said to CNN that every day felt awful and scary. I’m so grateful to be home again. “He said that he hopes God will bring happiness back for everybody. “