Muhammad a-Natsheh, 22, from the Tel Rumeidah neighborhood in central Hebron, attacked by soldiers on 14 July 2024
I’m an activist with Youth Against Settlements. We provide support for people living in neighborhoods in the city center who suffer from movement restrictions.
On 14 July 2024, at around 6:00 P.M., I was carrying some wood meant for renovating a house in the area along with three other volunteers, one of them an international activist. We were going to take a detour, because the soldiers don’t allow materials like that through the checkpoints. We were walking in an alley between some houses near Checkpoint 56, a military checkpoint at the entrance to a-Shuhada Street.
Across from that alley is the home of the Abu Markhiyah family. The military installed security cameras around the house. There’s also an observation post there, that the army put up when the war in Gaza started.
When I got to the soldiers, one of them pushed me, and I fell face down on the roof. Then another soldier assaulted me and pressed his knee into my back
We were walking along the alley, and suddenly the activists who were with me stopped. Just then, a stun grenade exploded at my feet. I was shocked and dropped the wood. A few seconds later, two soldiers who were standing on the roof of the Abu Markhiyah home fired a few shots, and then started yelling at us. They pointed their guns at me and told me to come over. I told them in English that I was coming and started walking over to them, and then, when I was near the building, one of them suddenly fired in the air.
In the meantime, two other soldiers came to the alley, as well as ‘Issa ‘Amru, the activist
One of the soldiers ordered me to climb up the metal ladder leading up to the roof, and I did. When I got to the soldiers, one of them pushed me, and I fell face down on the roof. Then another soldier assaulted me and pressed his knee into my back. He tied my hands from behind with zip ties, while the other soldier pressed the barrel of his gun to my head.
One of the soldiers asked me what I was planning to do with the wood, and I said it was for renovating one of the houses.
I stayed lying there, and one of the soldiers demanded my ID card. I didn’t have it on me and suggested I give them the number, but they didn’t want to hear it.
They kept me lying there for about ten minutes, and meanwhile, ‘Issa ‘Amru went to get my ID card. The soldiers took away my cell phone and took off the zip ties. They told me to climb back down the ladder, and when I reached the bottom, they handcuffed me with zip ties again and blindfolded me with a piece of cloth. They led me away from there and I saw, underneath the blindfold, that they took me to the military base near the Ramat Yishay outpost.
The soldiers sat me on the floor, and a little while later, stood me up and walked me another short distance, where they made me sit down on the floor again, leaning my back against a wall with my legs stretched out in front of me. The soldiers swore at me with humiliating swear words, and some of them trod on my legs. It hurt a lot, and I couldn’t say anything. One of them brought an office chair and put it on my legs. He sat on it from time to time, and it hurt a lot. They kept swearing at me the whole time, and one of them spat at me, too.
It went on like that for about an hour, and then one of the soldiers told me in Arabic: “We’ll rape you.” One of them grabbed my head, and another soldier tried to open my mouth and shove a rubber object in there. I worked hard not to open my mouth. I heard him saying in Hebrew: “Film him, film him.” At that point, one of the soldiers came up to me and put out his cigarette on my right leg. He put it out slowly, so it would hurt more. One of them asked me: “Does it hurt?” When I said yes, he punched me in the back of the head and stepped on my legs, pressing hard.
One of the soldiers told me in Arabic: “We’ll rape you.” One of them grabbed my head, and another soldier tried to open my mouth and shove a rubber object in there. I worked hard not to open my mouth
Then another soldier asked me: “Are you Hamas? Are you Fatah?” When I said I wasn’t, he started kicking me hard on the side of the body. It hurt a lot, and they kept stepping on my legs. It went on like that for about an hour more, with them switching between hitting and cursing.
Then an Arabic-speaking soldier came. He came over to me and ordered me to get up, but I couldn’t. He grabbed me by the neck, lifted me up and made me stand facing the wall, and then he started pushing my head left and right violently with his hands, saying: “If I see you in this place again, I’ll rape you and kill you. I’ll do the same to anyone else I see here.”
They left me standing like that for some time, swearing at me, and then they took me, on foot, out of the military base. One of the soldiers kept tightening my zip ties forcefully and pressed my shoulders, alternating between left and right.
The Arabic-speaking soldier told the rest of the soldiers to swear at me. He poured some sort of liquid on my back, and then they started punching me in the head and gut. They tried to knock me down, but I managed to stay upright.
Then they walked me about 200 meters, and I saw, under the blindfold, that we were in an empty yard with dogs. The soldiers threatened to set the dogs on me, and I was very scared.
After a little while, they walked me again to a street that has a metal gate, where they made me kneel and then ordered me to crawl under the gate. They pushed me a little with their feet and then took off my zip ties. I stayed there until a Palestinian Red Crescent ambulance came and took me to the government hospital in Hebron. They checked me and I had bruises on my body. I got treated and discharged.
* Testimony given to B’Tselem field researcher Manal al-Ja’bari on 24 July 2024