Israel releases 20 Palestinians back into south Gaza following their arrest in north

Israeli authorities released 20 residents of the Gaza Strip from its detention on Saturday, delivering them to the Karam Abu Salem border crossing between the strip and Israeli territory.

All of the 20 had been detained in north Gaza over recent weeks, during the aggressive operation Israel launched there in early October.

Earlier this week, the Israeli military spokesperson announced that Palestinians displaced from the north will not be allowed to return home.

The Palestinians released on Saturday were transferred to the European Hospital for medical checkups following their time in detention. Mada Masr’s correspondent in south Gaza noted that some of them appeared to be in ill health. Footage reviewed by Mada Masr also showed deep wounds that appeared to have been inflicted by hand-cuffs on the wrists of a prisoner.

Six freed prisoners spoke to Mada Masr, describing being arrested as they attempted to pass through a military checkpoint set up by the invading Israeli forces during the operation in the north, which has seen Israel displace hundreds of thousands of residents amid heavy aerial bombing and artillery fire.

The Israeli military has conducted mass arrests during its campaign on the north, with eyewitnesses describing to Mada Masr scenes in which the invading soldiers separated women and children from men, taking most men into captivity.

Mostafa Maeen Awad, one of those released, told Mada Masr that he had been detained for 20 days. “My wife and I and our children went to the checkpoint and they took me from there. They put us in mesh rooms, where we only had one blanket.”

“The whole time it was humiliation, insults and beating,” Awad said. Throughout his detention, Israeli prison authorities deprived him of sufficient sleep, he said, describing being forced to wake up at 6 am and being prevented from sleeping until 1 am.

He said that they were forced to sit for long periods in positions that exhausted their bodies as a form of psychological torture.

Others who shared testimonies recounted similar treatment. Ziyad al-Fasis, too, described being deprived of sleep by noise grenades that were detonated at night. He described being deprived of food as well, explaining that one piece of bread per day was given to each captive.

Many Palestinians have been arrested during the 400 days of Israel’s aggression on the strip, though the full number and their whereabouts is not known. Amani Sarahna, the spokesperson for the Palestinian Prisoners Club, previously told Mada Masr that the Occupation military’s practice of forcibly disappearing people it detains in Gaza, refusing to share information about their number, whereabouts and health condition, comes under the provisions of regulations the Knesset approved after the war, which deprive prisoners from Gaza from meeting a lawyer. “Many are in military camps” as opposed to under the prison authority, she said.

Israel has released groups of Palestinian prisoners at the Karam Abu Salem border on prior occasions, most notably in April, when over 100 Palestinians were released. Some described being blindfolded throughout the period of their detention.