'Israeli army beat us': Freed Palestinian boy narrates ordeal in prison
"Every week, they (the Israeli army) came to beat us, and they took all our clothes, bed coverings and mattresses," says Osama Nayef Osama Marmash, who has been freed after spending five months in Israeli detention.
Khalil Zamaara, released from Israeli jail as part of the prisoner swap agreement between Israel and Hamas, reunites with his family in Hebron, occupied West Bank on November 27, 2023. / Photo: AA
Osama Nayef Osama Marmash, one of 39 Palestinians recently released by Israel as part of a swap deal during a four-day humanitarian pause in fighting with Hamas, spoke about the suffering of Palestinians inside Israeli prisons.
Marmash, 16, who is from Nablus in the northern occupied West Bank, said he was administratively detained five months ago.
"Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons learned about the swap deal on Friday, after the release of a number of people," he told Anadolu on Sunday.
"I woke up in the morning, washed my face and read the Quran before Israeli soldiers began to wander through the prisoners' cells to call the names of those released, as my name was among them," he said.
"Since eight in the morning, we have been waiting in the cold until the Red Cross came and took us from Ofer Prison. "Every week, they (the Israeli army) came to beat us, and they took all our clothes, bed coverings and mattresses."
He said the Israeli army gave every prisoner a very thin bed covering. He pointed to a banner of the Al Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Palestinian group Hamas, that he was wearing around his neck because of the extreme cold.
Marmash recalled that the Israeli army once poured water on the prisoners despite the cold weather, stressing that the food allocated to the prisoners was very little. "They gave us two bags of bread a day, and we were eight people," he said.
He praised the Al Qassam Brigades, saying: "May Allah have mercy on the martyrs and heal the wounded."
A four-day humanitarian pause mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the US went into effect on Friday, temporarily halting Israel's attacks on Gaza. Israel launched a massive military campaign in Gaza following the October 7 cross-border attack by Hamas.
It has since killed at least 14,854 Palestinians, including 6,150 children and more than 4,000 women, according to Palestinian health authorities in the besieged enclave. The official Israeli death toll, meanwhile, stands at 1,200.
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