Muhammad Abu Tawilah, A 35-year-old father of a baby from Gaza City
My wife and I lived in a-Shuja’iyah neighborhood in Gaza City. When the war broke out, we stayed home at first, despite the grave danger and the proximity to the Israeli border. The bombings were very close to us, and the noise was frightening.
They tied my hands, covered my eyes with a piece of cloth, and left me naked. I was kept in this building for three days, during which I was interrogated under torture.
When things got worse, we left our home. We moved over and over between different parts of Gaza City. We fled bombings, gunfire and repeated military incursions into the eastern part of the city. We eventually reached the Tel al-Hawa neighborhood in the western part of the city and settled in a building where there were already between 50 and 60 other displaced people, staying in rough conditions.
In March 2024, the Israeli military began an invasion of a-Shifaa Hospital. Tanks and other military vehicles approached our building, and it was under siege for about a week. The soldiers blew up nearby houses, removed displaced people from them, arrested some residents and forced others to move south.
On 18 March 2024, after we finished evening prayers, we went down, only the men, to the ground floor of the building. We heard an explosion close to us, and then another explosion. It was the door to the building. Soldiers came into our building. We told them there were women, children and elderly people in the building too. They ordered all men over the age of 16 to strip and show them their ID cards, then put us in rooms on the first floor and went up to the upper floors of the building to bring down whoever was there.
the soldiers put out cigarettes on my body, poured hydrochloric acid on me, and burned my back with a lighter. Because of the burns, I lost sight in my left eye
At that point, the soldiers arrested me and took me naked to a nearby building [near a-Shifaa Hospital] that the military had seized and turned into a military post. They tied my hands, covered my eyes with a piece of cloth, and left me naked. I was kept in this building for three days, during which I was interrogated under torture. An army officer questioned me about Hamas leaders, tunnels and weapons. During the interrogation, the soldiers put out cigarettes on my body, poured hydrochloric acid on me, and burned my back with a lighter. Because of the burns, I lost sight in my left eye.
After three days, they put me, wounded and bleeding, in an APC and drove me to the area of the Sufa Crossing. There, I was put in a military camp with two sheds, with about 150 prisoners held in each of them. I didn’t know what happened to my family. I was kept there for three months, with my hands tied and my eyes covered. From early morning to late at night, 5:00 A.M. to 10:00 P.M., we were forced to kneel without moving. The pain from the burns on my body and in my eye was unbearable. We got very little food, two or three slices of bread and a bit of cheese, in the morning and in the evening. They let us shower only twice a week and beat us on the way to the shower. Injured prisoners were deliberately beaten on the wounded parts of their body.
I asked for treatment for the burns and for my eye, and at some point I was transferred to a nearby field hospital. I was hospitalized there for 20 days and had plastic surgery, skin grafts and localized treatments.
After hospital, I was transferred to Ofer Prison, where my condition deteriorated. I was held there for a month and a half. My eye was bleeding and hurt badly, and I begged for medical treatment, but they ignored me. Other prisoners asked them to help me. The bleeding from the eye got worse, but only when a doctor saw it, he referred me for treatment at the hospital in Ramla Prison. I was hospitalized there for 15 days, but the only treatment they gave me was eye drops.
Dogs attacked us during cell searches, too. One of the dogs hit me on the head, which me, but even then I didn’t get medical treatment
After the hospitalization in Ramla Prison, I was sent back to Ofer Prison, where I was held for seven more months. There, I was beaten, tortured and humiliated. They deliberately hit me on my burns and wounds. During the day, they would take away our mattresses and blankets, and the room was filmed nonstop. If a prisoner tried to take a mattress during the day, they would punish him by beating him and setting dogs on him. Dogs attacked us during cell searches, too. One of the dogs hit me on the head, which me, but even then I didn’t get medical treatment. They allowed us to shower only once a week, in cold water and without giving us clean clothes to change into. One of the prisoners had internal bleeding due to hemorrhoids, and they denied him medical treatment until he collapsed from dehydration and weakness. There were other prisoners who collapsed from the torture.
On 4 February 2025, the lawyers told us there was a release deal. I was called, along with another prisoner from my cell and 17 others from the wing. The army told us we were going “for interrogation,” but I assumed I was on the list of people up for release. They transferred us to Ketziot Prison (Negev), where we were held for about 10 more days and underwent more interrogations. The army mentally abused us. They kept telling us we’d be released the coming Saturday, and it didn’t happen.
After some time, Red Cross representatives came and took my information, including a phone number to contact my family. In the end, I was released on 15 February 2025. By then, I didn’t believe I’d ever see my family again. When I was released, I met my son ‘Ayash, who was born while I was in prison.
Now, I suffer from severe pain from the burns I got in detention, and I tire easily. I need medical treatment, surgeries and treatment for my eye, but I also have to provide for my wife and our baby. My financial situation and my family’s don’t allow for any of that. My parents’ home was bombed and severely damaged. I feel broken and am filled with despair every time I look at my body.
* Testimony given to B'Tselem field researcher Olfat al-Kurd on 18 March 2025