- by Fayha Shalash
The Israeli Shin Bet informed Murad that he would be released and sent home to Jalbun, but, at the last minute, Abu al-Rub learned that he would be deported to Egypt.
A Palestinian prisoner released under the recent agreement revealed, in an interview with Palestine Chroniclethat they had been subjected to severe torture until the very last minute.
Murad Abu al-Rub, 45, from the village of Jalbun near Jenin, was arrested 20 years ago and sentenced to life imprisonment. He said his last day in prison was harder than the 20 years he spent behind bars.
The Israeli Shin Bet informed Murad that he would be released and sent home to Jalbun, but, at the last minute, Abu al-Rub learned that he would be deported to Egypt.
As part of the recently concluded agreement with the Palestinian resistance, Israel released 250 Palestinian prisoners serving life sentences and long prison terms, as well as 1700 prisoners from the Gaza Strip arrested after the war, in exchange for Hamas releasing the remaining 20 Israeli prisoners.
The association Addameer The human rights organization reported that after this agreement, more than 9,100 Palestinian prisoners remain detained in Israeli prisons, including 400 children and 53 women.
They wanted to kill us
The day before his release was horrific; the prisoners covered by the agreement were transferred from all prisons to Ofer Prison in preparation for their release. However, this journey was accompanied by torture and humiliation.
«They transferred me from Rimon Prison to Ofer Prison, where we remained from dawn until 22 p.m. Then they informed me that I would not be released in Jenin, but would be deported to Egypt because I posed a threat to state security. This devastated me. I thought of my family, who had been eagerly awaiting my release and had prepared the house to welcome me." said Abu al-Rub.
During their detention at Ofer prison, prisoners slated for release were repeatedly assaulted and beaten with iron bars while handcuffed. Traces of torture and beatings were still visible on their bodies two weeks after their release.
After placing them in dark rooms, masked men entered and began to beat them brutally, deliberately targeting their hands, chest, and head in order to cause them as much damage as possible.
«I suffered broken ribs after being repeatedly punched in the chest. One of my teeth was also broken by the beatings. Some prisoners suffered fractures to their noses, faces, and hands.", he added.
The handcuffs and shackles were so tight that they dug into the skin and flesh, and in some prisoners, reached the bone. The lack of medical care led to numerous complications. One prisoner's leg was constantly swollen and painful.
After his release, Abu al-Rub went to the doctor, who found that it was broken.
«Immediately after informing us that we were going to be released, Israel intensified the torture. They wanted to kill us. They kept us in iron handcuffs for 36 consecutive hours, and the day of our release was the hardest of our 20 years in prison. We were tortured for 15 hours, forced to kneel barefoot on a floor covered with gravel and broken glass. Our legs were bleeding, and the gravel was digging into our skin.He continued.
Ninety-five prisoners were released from the prisons of Nafha and Rimon and sent home to the West Bank, but they discovered that 25 of them had been expelled at the last minute, while their families were waiting for them in Ramallah.
«I cried when I learned I was going to be deported. No one likes living far from their homeland and family. It's a sadistic and unjust policy, because it amounts to expelling entire families from Palestine under the guise of a prisoner exchange." explained Abu al-Rub.
Torture centers
According to the Palestinian Authority in charge of Prisoners' Affairs, Israel intensified its repressive measures against prisoners from the beginning of the war against Gaza in October 2023.
Abu Al-Rub described to us what he had endured. He lost 30 kg and considers himself lucky, as many have lost 40 or 50 kg due to deliberate malnutrition.
The Israeli prison service's policy was to give prisoners 1000 calories a day, while the average person needs more than 2000 calories to function normally. Released prisoners had visibly lost a significant amount of weight and their physical condition was severely degraded.
Breakfast consisted of 5 to 8 grams of jam, 10 to 15 grams of yogurt, and four slices of bread. Lunch consisted of five tablespoons of half-cooked rice, half a small cup of bland soup, four slices of bread, and a hard-boiled egg prepared several days earlier.
In addition to the systematic lack of food, prisoners were subjected to constant and unjustified beatings by the so-called special forces, to the point that the prisons turned into torture centers, torture which caused the death of 80 prisoners in just two years.
«Special forces would burst into the rooms, armed and accompanied by police dogs, claiming the prisoners had broken the rules when in reality there was nothing in the room that violated the rules: just mattresses, nothing else. They would start by tying our hands behind our backs, forcing our heads down, and beating us violently until we bled." said Abu al-Rub.
Mustafa Abu Arra, 63, an elderly prisoner, had been held in administrative detention since the beginning of the war and suffered from chronic illnesses. He was brutally beaten, even though the guards knew he was sick. He returned to the room unable to walk and, a day later, began to have difficulty breathing.
«This prisoner was in the section where I was. He suddenly collapsed to the floor, unable to breathe because they had hit him in the chest. We shouted for them to give him medical attention, but they didn't respond. A few hours later, when his condition worsened and he lost consciousness, they took him to the hospital, and then we learned that he had died." Abu al-Rub added.
There is no medical care for prisoners inside the prison. Those who regularly take medication are denied it upon arrest. Prisoners with health problems are left to fend for themselves.
«They threw us, chained up, into a courtyard for an entire day, insulting and cursing us. We had to keep our heads down. Then they sprayed us with tear gas. And they watched us suffocate. Their methods were perhaps worse than the Nazis', especially regarding the deprivation of food and medical care, and they prevented us from practicing our religion." explained the former inmate.
Our freedom is incomplete.
The released images showing Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir insulting Palestinian prisoners have broken the hearts of the released prisoners. They feel guilty for leaving behind thousands of prisoners whose lives are threatened.
«We don't feel completely free, because over 9000 prisoners suffer systematic oppression, including 125 lifers who are too old or too frail to strike or protest. When I saw Ben-Gvir's video, I thought it would have been better if I had stayed in prison with them, because it pains me too much to have left them behind.».
When Abu al-Rub was released from Rimon prison, an elderly prisoner who had been arrested 33 years earlier and sentenced to life imprisonment told him:Don't forget me"It broke his heart so much that he wished that prisoner would go out in his place."
Despite his deportation to Egypt, the Israeli army raided his family's home in Jenin. They destroyed everything inside and forbade his relatives from celebrating his release or even expressing joy. They threatened to demolish their house if they did.
To this day, Israel prevents the Abu al-Rub family and the families of most of the prisoners released and deported to Egypt from going to Egypt to reunite with their sons after many years of absence, thus imposing a new ordeal on them.
«I watched an interview with an Israeli journalist and an Israeli officer who told the journalist: "My mission is to prevent the released prisoners from showing their teeth, that is, to prevent them even from smiling."
The journalist replied, "But inside, they are happy." The officer responded, "I cannot prevent their inner happiness, but they are forbidden to show it."
Happiness is forbidden in all Palestinian homes.“,” concluded Abu al-Rub.