Date of testimony: 19 May 2025
S.S.M., a 35-year-old woman, originally residing in Gaza City – Al-Rimal neighborhood, is currently forcibly displaced in Gaza City – Al-Azhar camp.1
A year prior to the war’s outbreak, I accompanied my sister-in-law to Nablus, where she was undergoing long-term treatment for bone cancer at Al-Najah Hospital.
In January 2024, while returning from Huwara to our residence in Nablus, our vehicle was stopped at an Israeli military checkpoint. Soldiers were conducting arrests of Palestinians from Gaza, demanding identification cards from all passengers. Upon learning I was from Gaza, I was immediately arrested.
I was transported to a prison whose location I did not know. Interrogations began immediately, and I was subjected to a barrage of questions. I spent two nights in solitary confinement before being moved to another prison, also of unknown name, where I underwent a new round of questioning and spent an additional night. The following day, the Israeli police handed me and two other women over to the military at a facility called “Anatot.” We left the prison in the early hours of the morning and arrived at the facility around noon.
When we were taken off the blue bus, I was still with the two other women. From the moment we were handed over to the military, the soldiers blindfolded us, handcuffed us, and shackled our feet. Before my eyes were covered, I glimpsed that the place was extremely vast and surrounded by barbed wire.
From the very first moment the soldiers took charge of us, they began to hurl abusive and humiliating insults. One of them yelled at me, “You are Hamas, a dirty woman, Sharmouta [a whore],” and then they started beating us with their weapons. I received several blows to my back, and one particularly strong blow to my chest caused severe pain that lasted for a long time and required subsequent treatment.
We were kneeling, our hands and feet bound, crying and pleading, but the more we cried out, the more intensely they beat us. There was a pregnant woman with us who was also beaten, which later led to her losing her fetus as a result of the direct violence she endured.
One of the soldiers was threatening us with unspeakable obscenities, his voice rising terrifyingly. He made direct threats of assault against our honor, and to sexually harm and rape us. Some soldiers around him tried to stop him, but the fear I felt then was indescribable.
We remained in this state – restrained, blindfolded, kneeling on stones – for two or three hours, subjected to non-stop beating and humiliation.
Later, female soldiers escorted us to another area within the detention facility for a search. Our blindfolds were removed, and we were ordered to take off all our clothes, which were then thoroughly searched. We were then moved to another space within the facility, no more than 200 meters in size, surrounded by barbed wire and with a dilapidated zinc roof. The weather was rainy and very cold, with no heating available. There were only exposed iron beds in the middle of the yard, and we were freezing from the intense cold. We asked for blankets, and they provided us with blankets that offered no protection from the rain or warmth. We asked for additional clothing, and they only gave us three jackets, but the conditions were harsh and uninhabitable, and rain continuously seeped in.
As for food, it arrived in meager quantities at specific times. Often, it consisted only of a can of hummus with an unbearable taste, or a small amount of labneh with one tomato. The soldiers would place the food through a small opening beneath the third door, without anyone entering our area, and then call us to retrieve it. Three securely locked iron doors separated us from them.
The living conditions were utterly inhumane. The place was not even fit for animals. At night, we could barely sleep due to the severe cold, and if we did manage to sleep briefly, the soldiers would violently awaken us by banging loudly on the doors, ordering us to undergo searches.
During the last two days of detention, an elderly woman was brought to be held with us. She remained with us in the same harsh conditions, with no consideration for her age or health.
After ten days of detention, which was a mixture of psychological and physical torture and humiliation, the army blindfolded us, bound our hands, and tied the legs of every two of us together with iron restraints. We were then placed on a bus in preparation for our deportation to Gaza.
Upon our arrival at the Kerem Shalom crossing, a Red Cross team was there to meet us. They provided us with 300 shekels, a lunch, blankets, and biscuit packets. They also conducted an interview with us to document the violations we endured during our detention.
After my release, I traveled to Rafah, where my children were staying with my brother in the Ibn Sina school in the Shaboura area. I returned to Gaza after the last truce ended, but my return was delayed by twenty days due to the difficult circumstances. I had to sell my son’s laptop to be able to return at that time.
Today, I live with my children in a tent amidst harsh humanitarian conditions. We suffer from severe food shortages and a complete lack of privacy. My children are unable to continue their education under these deplorable circumstances, which only increases my feelings of sadness and helplessness.
