After spending eight months confined in Israeli detention, Mahmoud Abu Foul finally heard his mother’s voice, though he was unable to see her face.
Abu Foul, a 28-year-old resident of northern Gaza, was apprehended at Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya in late December. During his incarceration in Israeli facilities, he alleges that prison guards subjected him to brutal torture and beatings, resulting in the loss of his eyesight.
This week, Abu Foul was freed as part of a ceasefire agreement brokered by the United States, which led to the release of nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails. Many of these individuals showed clear signs of physical abuse.
Having already lost a leg in a 2015 Israeli airstrike, Abu Foul recounted to Al Jazeera the relentless mistreatment he endured while imprisoned. At Sde Teiman prison-a place other detainees have dubbed “the facility that breaks men”-he was repeatedly beaten and tortured.
On one occasion, guards struck him so violently on the head that he lost consciousness. Upon waking, he realized he had become blind.
“I continuously requested medical attention, but they only provided a single type of eye drops that had no effect,” he explained. “My eyes were constantly watering, painful, and discharging, yet no one offered help.”
In protest, Abu Foul undertook a hunger strike to demand treatment, but his pleas were ignored by prison officials.
Upon his release and transfer to Nasser Hospital, Abu Foul anxiously awaited his family’s arrival, fearing the worst after hearing about the devastation in northern Gaza. When his mother finally came, he embraced her tightly.
“Though I couldn’t see her, just hearing her voice meant everything to me,” he shared.
Now residing in a tent amid rubble, Abu Foul remains without proper eye care and is seeking assistance to travel abroad for medical treatment.
His testimony adds to mounting evidence of systematic abuse within Israeli detention centers. Many of those freed recently appeared emaciated or bore visible injuries; one detainee reportedly lost nearly half of his body weight during imprisonment.
The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights collected statements from 100 former prisoners held between October 2023 and 2024, revealing that torture was widespread across all Israeli detention facilities-not limited to notorious prisons like Sde Teiman.
All detainees were held in isolation, denied access to legal counsel, family visits, or judicial oversight.
Israel has returned over 100 bodies of Palestinians who died while in custody. Medical experts who examined some of these bodies found signs of abuse, with some cases suggesting possible executions.
“These individuals did not die of natural causes; they were executed while restrained,” stated Dr. Munir al-Bursh, director-general of Gaza’s Health Ministry.
The United Nations estimates that at least 75 Palestinian prisoners have died in Israeli jails since October 2023.
Last year, Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem described the prison system as a “network of torture camps,” where detainees face routine physical abuse, deprivation of food and medical care, and sexual violence.
Despite numerous reports of mistreatment since October 2023, Israeli authorities have filed charges in only two cases, with no prison staff members prosecuted, according to the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI), which monitors torture allegations.
Dr. Ruchama Marton, founder of Physicians for Human Rights – Israel, remarked that although her long-standing efforts exposed the use of torture, it has become normalized rather than eradicated. “People may no longer deny it, but in practice, it continues unabated,” she told Haaretz.
Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who oversees the prison service, has justified the harsh treatment of Palestinian detainees, declaring that “summer camps and patience for the terrorists are over.”
Ben-Gvir has also been recorded mocking prominent Palestinian political prisoner Marwan Barghouti.
Earlier this week, Barghouti’s son expressed concern for his father’s safety amid reports from witnesses that Barghouti was assaulted by guards last month.
In an interview with Al Jazeera, Arab Barghouti accused Israeli authorities of targeting his father due to his role as a unifying figure among Palestinians.
The family shared that testimonies from detainees released under the Gaza ceasefire deal indicated Barghouti was beaten by guards in mid-September during a transfer between prisons.
Currently, approximately 9,000 Palestinian prisoners remain in Israeli custody, many held without trial or proper legal procedures. Israel denies allegations of systematic abuse but has yet to provide evidence refuting these claims.
Requests for comment from the Israeli military and prison service went unanswered.
