Hallucination pills, electroshocks: Gaza survivors speak of Israeli torture

Palestinians taken hostage by invading Israeli soldiers in Ez-Zeytun neighbourhood, in the east of the besieged Gaza, have shared harrowing accounts of torture by Israeli troops.

Those seized during Israel's October 27 ground invasion in the neighbourhood spoke to Anadolu Agency after their release, describing enduring threats, beatings, electric shocks, and hanging for hours.

Cihad Yasin, 43, said his detention was terrifying and brutal. He said the Israeli army imprisoned him for 11 days and he was tortured with electric shocks.

Yasin said he was chained while Israeli troops blindfolded and transported him and other Palestinians to unknown locations. Palestinians were kept bound without food for many days, he said, adding Israeli soldiers sprayed unknown substances on them that attracted insects.

"They left us naked outdoors in the cold."

Recent videos leaked by Israeli troops showed scores of stripped Palestinian men in Israeli military custody, with a London-based news outlet saying one of its journalists was among those humiliated by Israeli forces. In one clip, a group of blindfolded Palestinian men are seen sitting with their hands tied behind their backs as Israeli soldiers watch them.

Yasin revealed that due to torture, including electric shocks, the detainees could not sleep and were forced to sit on their knees until midnight. Palestinians were given food with mould and were also forced to ingest hallucination-inducing pills, he said.

"I still suffer headaches and dizziness from beatings and pills. No news about my family in Gaza; worried about their safety," Yasin added.

Hands and feet tied

Mahmud el Alul, another Palestinian who was released in the Ez-Zeytun neighbourhood, said Israeli soldiers gave them spoiled food. Al Alul said soldiers brought three pieces of spoiled bread for each detainee.

Despite having our hands and feet tied, they would place the bread in front of us, he said.

"We couldn't take and eat it. During my week of detention, I refused to eat due to the spoiled food and remained hungry," he said. "Israeli soldiers refused to untie our hands and feet when we needed to use the restroom," he added.

Alul said soldiers subjected him and others to severe beatings and described being forced to sit on their knees with hands tied for six hours at the beginning of the detention.

He recounted being marched to different areas in Israel for at least six hours, during which soldiers brutally beat those who could not recall their ID numbers and punished others who spoke among themselves by hanging them by their feet for hours.

Due to the attacks on the Ez-Zeytun neighbourhood, forcibly displaced Palestinian Hanan Avde told Anadolu that Israeli forces suddenly attacked homes one early morning while residents were inside.

"We thought our house would collapse on us. Later, women and children started screaming in fear. We heard Israeli soldiers instructing us to come out of the house one by one. Israeli soldiers didn't allow us to take any bags or belongings with us," said Avde, adding that the soldiers separated women and children from the men.

Despite the cold weather, they told men to remove their clothes, confiscated their IDs, phones and money, then took them outside, said Avde. Israeli soldiers took children, including a 16-year-old, and she was threatened with death when she tried to resist, she added.

Women tortured as well

Avde revealed that Israeli troops forced women and children with white flags to move to the southern besieged Gaza. Blindfolded, they were taken to the Al-Kuwait intersection near the checkpoint, where Israeli military vehicles and bulldozers were present.

One of the soldiers at the checkpoint randomly selected women for torture while instructing others to leave the area quickly. He left the women as late-night attack sounds echoed from everywhere, she said.

Avde said that her husband was released after the attack on the Ez-Zeytun neighbourhood, but she still does not know the fate of her child.

"My husband had some health issues before the attacks. His health deteriorated further due to the brutal torture during detention. He is currently hospitalised at Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital," she added.

Israel's war on besieged Gaza has killed over 21,500 Palestinians — about 1 percent of the population — and wounded nearly 56,000 others. Thousands more bodies are feared to be buried in the ruins of neighbourhoods obliterated by Israel.

On Tuesday, the Israeli authorities released the bodies of 80 Palestinians killed by the Israeli army who were detained during its ground invasion.

Authorities in Gaza said the examination of bodies revealed that their shapes changed significantly due to the theft of vital organs.

"The bodies arrived inside a container, some intact, while others were in pieces, and some others had decomposed," Marwan Al Hams, the director of Mohammed Yousef El Najar Hospital in Rafah city, told media.