Gaza – Nimer Abu Ras now has bruises, swollen hands and other injuries. He is one of hundreds of Palestinian men and boys who have been detained, many of them stripped and blindfolded, in recent weeks by Israeli forces operating in northern Gaza.
Reported by CNN International, Tuesday, December 19, 2023, Many of those detained have been identified as civilians by relatives and employers after images of the mass detention circulated on social media.
Abu Ras is among a group of six boys and four men interviewed by CNN at Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in central Gaza, where they are being treated for injuries and dehydration after being detained for five days.
Like Abu Ras, many of them came out of Israeli detention with swollen hands and bruised wrists from being handcuffed during that time. Their entire hands were marked with red markers by the Israeli soldiers.
They all told CNN that they were given little food or water during detention and described examples of alleged abuse and humiliation. A doctor at the hospital said they all arrived at the hospital in a state of physical and psychological exhaustion.
“They will tie your hands behind your back and drag you like a dog – old plastic handcuffs on your arms. Depending on the mood of one of them, they will come and kick you with their combat boots,” said 14-year-old Mahmoud Zendah, who recently suffered a wound on the bridge of his nose.
Zendah said an Israeli soldier had kicked his face.
“I did nothing to him. He decided to come and kick me,” he said.
“He came up to me and asked, ‘Are you Hamas?’ I told him, I don’t know Hamas or its resistance groups. I’m just a schoolboy and go home. I eat, I play with my friends and go home. I don’t do anything else in life,” he continued.
