'Torture and starvation' Palestinian detainees tell of abuse by Israel

Before releasing him, Israeli prison guards decided to give Naseem al-Radee a farewell gift. They bound his hands, placed him on the ground and beat him without mercy, saying goodbye the same way they had said hello: with their fists.

- Seham Tantesh Gaza William Christou Jerusalem

A convoy carrying the bodies of Palestinians who were held by Israel

Al-Radee's first sight of Gaza in nearly two years was blurry; a boot to the eye left him with blurred vision two days later. He added vision problems to the laundry list of ailments he had gained during his 22-month stay in Israeli prison.

The 33-year-old government employee from Beit Lahia had been arrested by Israeli soldiers at a school-turned displacement shelter in Gaza on 9 December 2023. He spent more than 22 months in captivity in Israeli detention centres - including 100 days in an underground cell - before being released alongside 1,700 other Palestinian detainees back to Gaza on Monday.

Like the other detainees released to Gaza, Radee was never charged with a crime. And like many of the other detainees, his detention was marked by torture, medical neglect and starvation at the hands of Israeli prison guards.

His description of his time in prison is part of what the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem says is a policy of abuse towards Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons and detention centres.

The Israeli prison service and military did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but in the past both have said that prison conditions comply with international law.

"The conditions in the prison were extremely harsh, from having our hands and feet bound to being subjected to the cruellest forms of torture," said Radee, speaking of his time in Nafha prison in the Negev desert, the last place he was detained before being released.