Nadia Nayef Hasan al-Helou (44), married with 3 children, resident of al-Sheikh Redwan neighborhood in Gaza City, and now displaced to Rafah, gave her testimony to PCHR on 28 February 2024.

I have been married for 14 years to Yehia Mohammed Ibrahim al-Helou, and a mother of 3 children, the eldest is 13-year-old Maria and the youngest is 7-year-old Mohammad.

My suffering began on 08 October 2023, day 2 of the Israeli war on Gaza, when the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) bombed my sister’s house in al-Karama area (known as al-Safina) forcing her to evacuate to my house. Since the beginning of the Israeli war, I had received several recorded messages from the IOF on my cell phone warning me to evacuate. Those calls coincided with the bombing of a nearby house, destroying it completely along with other houses adjacent to my house. Fearing for our children, my sister and I decided to leave my house and head to the south of the Gaza Strip, where we got separated.

At around 08:00 on Saturday, 11 November 2023, I left my house heading to the south, a safe area as claimed by IOF. I took some clothes and money and got into a cab that drove me to Kuwait roundabout, which is the last area that vehicles coming from northern Gaza Valley could reach as IOF had established a military checkpoint near Gaza Valley. The cab dropped me off Kuwait roundabout and I then walked with my 3 children towards the checkpoint to cross to the other side, the south, as I thought it was a safe area.

At the checkpoint, there were several Israeli soldiers pointing their weapons at the people displaced to the south, enticing fear among us. Before crossing the checkpoint, there was an Israeli soldier calling via a loudspeaker some persons he wanted and he then said: “the boy holding a woman’s hand come here.” At that time, I was holding my son’s hand, so I was afraid that the solider wanted my son. I turned around and found behind me a young man, who was with his mother, so I learnt that he was the one wanted. The young man obeyed the orders and headed to the soldier.

While crossing the checkpoint with soldiers pointing their weapons at us, we were not allowed to raise our heads nor look around. My child and I finally crossed the checkpoint and arrived at al-Nussairat refugee camp’s intersection at 10:30. We went to a school in al-Nussairat market area, but it was overwhelmed with displaced people, so I left to a relative’s house, but he apologized that he could not welcome us in his house because at any time it might be targeted as it was located in a very dangerous area (I later learned that all the houses there were actually bombed). Afterwards, I sought refuge in Abu Al-Helou Primary School shelter in Block (7) in al-Bureij refugee camp.

From 11 November 2023 to 27 December 2023, I was with my children in the school amid IOF’s dropping leaflets ordering us to evacuate the areas included, among which was Block 7 where the school shelter is located. We had no place to go, so we decided to stay.

At 02:00 on 28 December 2023, I woke up to children and women screaming out of fear as IOF besieged the school. None of us dared to move due to the siege and amid IOF’s relentless bombardment all night.

The suffering begins here

At 10:00, on 28 December 2023, IOF completely besieged the school with their military vehicles and bulldozers and razed the area surrounding it. They then called via loudspeakers all men 16 years old and above inside the school and ordered them to come out naked except for the underwear and holding their IDs.

At 15:00, on that painful day, the Israeli soldiers called again saying: “to all women, take your bags and leave through the safe corridor to the south.” At that moment, I thought we had survived and I would safely go with my children to a safe area in the south, but that was the biggest trick. I decided to leave this time without packing our clothes and only taking some canned food and wheat flour that I had grinded to feed my children. The soldiers then stopped us and there were cameras ahead. The soldiers were distributing potable water to women, who were allowed to pass. I told my children: now they will give us water and we will leave. The soldiers dug a large hole to put women, whom they did not want, in it. Just when I was crossing, a soldier called me: “you, who wear an imprinted hijab, come here.” At that time. my little child held me tight, but I was not paying attention to him out of fear. However, the soldier had no mercy on me ignoring my little son’s fears and called me again: “You, who wear a blue mask pulling below your chin, come here.” I told my children not to worry as they only wanted to give me water and I would come back. They took me and forced me to sit on a sand berm, leaving my children alone not knowing anyone there. Meanwhile, there was an Israeli soldier shooting at the street poles and another mocking us by saying (hasbunallah wanikmal wakil, please Allah help us).

Afterwards, I asked one of the soldiers where and why they were taking me, and he replied while pushing my back with his weapon’s muzzle: “walk, just keep walking.” I asked him again and again, “Where are you taking me?”, and he finally answered, “to the doctor for a checkup.”

The soldier then pushed me into an open truck, where there were young men wearing only their underwear along with other women who were arrested with me. When I was getting into the truck, I looked back to find my little daughter on the top of the sand berm waving to me, so I thought that she was waiting for me to come though. Right in front of my daughter, the soldiers tied my hands and feet with cuffs and blindfolded me while one of the soldiers pushed my back with his weapon forcing me to sit in the truck. The soldier then put my ID card in my hands, and because the cuffs were so tight, I could not hold my ID, so it fell off. Thus, the soldier beat me again with his weapon on my shoulder, shouting, “Hold your ID.”

From 15:00 to 19:00, we were left in the truck that later drove us. While on our way, I was begging the soldiers to give me some water because I have hypertension and diabetes, but in vain, as the soldier was only telling me to shut up. When we arrived, an Israeli soldier violently pulled me from my hands while blindfolded, so I fell on another soldier, who removed my blindfold. I then asked him, “Where am I?” and He said: “Welcome to Israel.” The place they took us to was spacious and looked like a military site. I broke down and cried a lot fearing for my children who had no one to take care of them.

On 29 December 2023, we were searched by female soldiers again while we were wearing our clothes and then taken into a windowless armored bus. At that time, I asked the Israeli female soldiers to bring me some water because I was so thirsty, but they did not respond. And whenever I raised my head, the Israeli female soldier would beat me with her hand or her weapon on my head and sometimes severely kick my back while insulting me.

After spending 3 to 4 hours in the bus, they dropped us off and searched us again before taking us into another bus. Before getting into that bus, an Israeli soldier came with a bottle of water and asked if we wanted to drink, and each of us drank a little about a quarter cup of water. Out of fatigue and after drinking a little water, I slept in the bus. They then woke me up to drop me off in a place with an asphalt floor that I felt while walking on it. We sat for half an hour in an open area, and I was then transferred to a closed room, where there were 4 female soldiers; two were armed while the other two were there to search me. We were in ‘Antot prison in Jerusalem. Inside the closed room, the female soldiers pushed me, kicked me, and stripped off my clothes. I was subjected to strip search and ill-treatment.

I was left in my underwear and they then gave me a pajama to wear. After desperately begging them to give my hijab back, they gave it to me. Afterwards, they gave me three pieces of paper for my belongings placed in “safe custody”. I wrote down all what I had including money, gold earrings, and clothes, and then signed the papers back.

After that, they tied my hands and feet with chains and put a black tag around my wrist with number 644. I was then taken down to a yard while being blindfolded, pulled from the chains by an Israeli soldier and another soldier pushing my back with his weapon. They forced me to kneel on a gravel floor in a fenced area. At that time, I heard a girl calling, “Mama, Mama,” and I unconsciously thought it was my daughter, so I called out loud, “Mimi,” but I got disappointed after realizing that she was a young girl in her twenties.

The soldiers then dragged me all the way to a clinic while blindfolded. When I arrived, the doctor asked if I had any complaints or suffered from any diseases and I told him that I had pain in my ear and needed a medicine, but he refused to give me any. I also told him that I have hypertension and diabetes, but he responded that he was not a specialist and was there only to fill out data.

I was then taken to a spacious place, forcing me to squat. I was very tired and slept on the floor when suddenly an Israeli soldier beat me with his feet and weapon and said: “You are not allowed to sleep, get up.”

It was very cold, so they put a jacket on me while I was tied with chains and then took us to another place, which was about 15 minutes away from where I was. They then removed the chains, replaced them with plastic zip ties, tying them so tight around my wrists. I was then held in a cage-like cell surrounded by surveillance cameras in the so-called ‘Antot Prison. I stayed there handcuffed for 11 days with only a jacket on my shoulders. We could not pray and had no clean potable water, which was milky white and full of chlorine. For food, each detainee had her share of two packs of labneh and two loaves of bread. Throughout my detention for 11 days, male and female soldiers were cursing and spitting on us while playing music out loud and bringing delicious food and eating it in front of us in addition to drinking clean mineral water, which we were deprived of in prison.

Moreover, during detention, I was taken twice to the interrogation room and asked about my brothers and if I participated in the Great March of Return protests. They had all my personal data and my family and brothers’ too. They blackmailed me saying: “if you change your statements, we will release you very soon, but if you do not, then you will rot in prison … just say the truth and you will get back to your children.”

At around 06:00, on 02 January 2024, they told us that we would go back home, but we were taken to an unidentified place full of large cages and it was too far. There, I was interrogated amid threats to harm my children, and being beaten with soldiers’ weapon on my back. I was seated on an interrogation chair with cuffs holding my feet tight.

The soldiers then took us while handcuffed to a room in Damon prison, where we were held for 30 days. The food was a pack of yoghurt for breakfast, rice or pasta for lunch, and an egg for dinner. The water tasted like chlorine. In the morning, we were given an hour to take a shower and the Israeli male and female soldiers gave us ointments to remove the traces left by plastic-zip ties and chains on our wrists.

For the last 11 days in Damon Prison, I was held with 10 other female detainees in another closed room, where there was no water, and the bathroom was dirty and full of bugs. They only gave us 25 minutes for a break and shower, allowing every four female prisoners to go out together. Staying in that room was like a punishment for us as it had only a food tray slot in the door, thereby reducing food quantities.

On 06 February 2024, the Israeli soldiers came and told us: “you all will go home.” Once again, I was strip-searched in a closed room and then taken to a small cage, where there were other female detainees. They tied my hands and feet with chains and then took us in a vehicle that looked like an ambulance, where they sat every four detainees together in a very limited area in the closed vehicle in extreme darkness. We stayed there for 3 hours, so I had shortness of breath and was sweating. I called out the soldiers telling them I could not breathe, but they cursed me.

At 03:00, female soldiers came, insulted us and took us to another place, where we were searched, our hands were tied behind our backs with a bag, not knowing what was inside it. I later learned that my ID and my gold earrings were inside the bag while the money and clothes were confiscated.

At the school shelter, we have limited access to water amid poor sanitation conditions. My children and I only have one mattress and one blanket to sleep. After 16 days of my release and due to lack of water, I could finally have shower while lack of hygiene at school caused lice in my hair.

One day, I was thinking of leaving my children as I was no longer able to live amid these catastrophic conditions. I also have not recovered yet from the fatigue and stress I experienced in detention. I cannot go on with this life but I am still fighting, even myself, for the sake of my children.