'Handcuffed and blindfolded for 160 days': Released Palestinians recount time in Israeli jails

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Palestinian detainees released from Israeli prisons as part of a ceasefire deal, along with Israeli hostages freed from Gaza, have recounted the “catastrophic” conditions and “mistreatment” they endured.

Israel released 183 Palestinian detainees on Saturday after Hamas handed over three Israeli hostages in the fifth hostage-prisoner swap to take place under the terms of the Gaza ceasefire deal.

Naeil El Bordaine had been in prison for a year and a half. “We were handcuffed and blindfolded for 160 days. You can’t see the sun. They hate us and swear at us non-stop,” said Mr El Bordaine. They were starving in prisons as Israeli troops brought them food late, he added.

He said that the detainees were forced to bathe in cold water without soap. “Showering was mandatory, they used to send us to cold water so we used to go to minimal washing and tell them that we showered because the water was freezing,” he said.

He added that detainees were taken from one place to another, including Ofer and Naqab. “They hit us with electric sticks. I cannot describe … there’s a lot of things that I don’t remember any more,” he said.

However, he said that he now forgot all the torture he had seen after seeing his son. “This is more precious to me than freedom so thank God.”

Eighteen of those released on Saturday had been sentenced to life and 54 were serving long sentences for their alleged involvement in deadly attacks against Israelis. Some have been in jail for two decades.

Also among those released were 111 Palestinians from Gaza who were rounded up after Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel. They had been detained without trial. The Red Cross brought them to the European Hospital in Gaza's southern town of Khan Younis, where scores of people poured into the streets in celebration.

Abdalla Abo Jarad, who was taken from Jabalia in northern Gaza in December 2023, said: “The situation in the prisons is catastrophic. It’s very bad and the treatment is very bad. The treatment is so humiliating.

“There wasn't any place or mattresses to sleep and they didn’t give me any food. I used to be handcuffed and blindfolded for 24 hours. They were swearing at me all the time. It was a miserable time, miserable treatment.”

Mr Abo Jarad, who was placed in several prisons including Nakab and Baraksat, said he was subjected to “unbearable torture”.

Inas Dawowd, a mother of a Palestinian who is still in detention, told The National that her son was taken from Nasser area on February 15 last year.

She said that her son's name was not among those who were freed, but she asked some released detainees if they had seen him. “Thank God some people told me that he’s alive. I hope that he will be released next Saturday,” said Ms Dawowd, who is an Arabic teacher originally from Gaza city but now a refugee in Khan Younis.

“We want to go back to Gaza but I was hoping I will be able to take my son with me because I cannot stay more than that here we don’t have any place to stay in.”

Rushdi Awwad, another released detainee, said they saw starvation, disease, humiliation and torture. “I was detained for a year and four months,” he said. “The situation is very bad. I cannot describe how bad it was.”