Yasser Abu Markhiyeh, 52, a father of four from the Tel Rumeidah neighborhood in central Hebron, attacked by soldiers on 14 July 2024.
I live across from the Gilbert checkpoint and work as the director of the Ibrahim al-Khalil association in Tel Rumeidah. The association’s projects include a center for cultural and educational activities, dental clinics, a medical center and a study center. I’m also involved in activism, documenting illegal acts by the occupation regime in the Tel Rumeidah area.
The soldier said that in 2017, his unit had killed 16 boys and girls from the Tel Rumeidah area and that he was back now to kill more, to teach the locals a lesson
On 14 July 2024, around 9:30 A.M., I went out of my home. On the way, a soldier standing at the Gilbert checkpoint started yelling at me and calling me over to him. When I got to him, he ordered me to hand over my ID card. I did, and he ordered me to unlock my phone and hand it over, too. I heard him talking to someone on the two-way radio, saying my name. About five minutes later, four soldiers arrived at the checkpoint. One of them, who spoke to me in Arabic, accused me of contacting Al Jazeera and slandering the Israeli army. I told him that I had, in fact, contacted Al Jazeera three weeks earlier, concerning soldiers who attacked me on 22 June 2024 [the attack was recorded by B’Tselem]. The soldier said that in 2017, his unit had killed 16 boys and girls from the Tel Rumeidah area and that he was back now to kill more, to teach the locals a lesson. Then he tied my hands behind my back with zip ties and fastened them very tight. Two soldiers pounced on me and started beating me, including in the testicles, for several minutes. Then they grabbed me under the armpits, lifted me up, blindfolded me, pulled my hands up and dragged me up the street to the settlement in Tel Rumeidah. They banged my head against the gate, and took me up the stairs to the military post. There, one of the soldiers stood on my legs, while the others beat me like wild animals and trod on my head. After several minutes of beating, while I lay on the ground, I felt soldiers moving around me. I think they were changing shifts. The soldiers who arrived trod on my stomach, my feet and my shins, and spat on me. Every soldier who walked by me kicked me and punched me.
Two soldiers pounced on me and started beating me, including in the testicles, for several minutes
Around 1:00 P.M., when I heard the call for noon prayers, an officer who spoke broken Arabic showed up. He started questioning me about a complaint I’d filed against the extremist settler Baruch Marzel. He said Marzel’s name was put on a terrorist list due to the complaint. I denied it and told the soldier I hadn’t filed a complaint against him. He kept on asking me questions for about 15 minutes and then left. A few minutes later, some soldiers started attacking and cursing me again. At one point, they started pouring dirty water on my head and body. Whenever my clothes dried, the soldiers poured the liquid on me again.
This went on for about seven hours. At one point, four soldiers picked me up from the floor. I couldn’t stand on my feet, but the soldiers forced me to my feet and took me outside, and from there they started dragging me along a dirt road, through a Muslim cemetery. One of the soldiers lifted my blindfold a little, and the others started beating me. Then they put my ID card in my pocket and left me there, with my hands still in zip ties. They didn’t return my phone, which I bought not long ago. I started walking, and after about 400 meters, I arrived at the Ghanem family’s carpentry workshop. One of the guys there took off my blindfold and cut the zip ties.
One of the soldiers lifted my blindfold a little, and the others started beating me
From there, I was taken in a car to the Alia Governmental Hospital. At the hospital, they checked me and saw I had bruises all over my body and swelling in my head. They also took X-rays to make sure nothing was broken. My knee hurt especially, and the pain has only grown worse since then. About three weeks ago, I went to the doctor again, and he referred me for a knee MRI. It’s a very expensive procedure, which costs 1,000 shekels (~ USD 265), and I didn’t do it because I can’t afford it.
* Testimony given to B’Tselem field researcher Manal al-Ja’bari on 22 July 2024.
In a previous testimony, Yasser Abu Markhiyeh recounted how soldiers attacked him on 21 June 2024 and Wisam Dufosh on 24 June.