Palestinian men and boys in Gaza describe the torture, humiliation, and dehumanization that they suffered during their time as captives of the Israeli occupation forces. “They forced us to make dogs’ sounds,” one man tells the camera. “If you refused to do so, they would beat you.” Another tells the reporter, “When they saw us falling asleep, they would come with a lighter and burn our backs with it.”
“Every hour was like years,” the same man says. “The torture was unbelievable.” Reports have emerged in recent days of mass roundups, torture, and execution of men and boys in Beit Hanoun and other parts of north Gaza. Detainees were identified by loved ones and others in the community who recognized them from the photos the occupation forces have been releasing.
As more footage and testimony are released, the depth of the horrors inflicted upon our people in Gaza are being brought to light. While we may never know the full extent of those horrors, what we already know is enough for any person of conscience to be able to identify as war crimes that are as depraved as they are systematic.
“My message for the world is to look at those detainees,” the final detainee tells viewers. “We are respected people. We are not animals.”
Video Aljazeera
[video id: as the caption by op reads, “Palestinian men and boys in Gaza describe the torture, humiliation, and dehumanization that they suffered during their time as captives of the Israeli occupation forces.”. there is credit to Quds News in the top right corner clideo.com in the bottom right corner, and the video is captioned. the video goes as such:
(video shows a young man showing the camera the scars on his wrists, then cuts to a relatively young looking man with a keffiyeh, talking to the camera while there are other men and boys in the background. throughout the entire video you can hear people talking in the background.)
man 1, speaking in Arabic: “They forced us to make dogs’ sounds, if you refuse to do that, they would beat you, if you don’t make cats’ sounds they would beat you. They would beat you very harshly. You should always do whatever they ask you.”
(cut to an older man talking to the camera with a young boy in the background, watching.)
man 2, speaking in Arabic: “They prevent you from asking for anything. If you ask for water, they start beating you on your head or any other part of your body. They don’t treat elderlies or young people any different. I’m 62 years old. They beat me on my chest although I have respiratory problems.”(video cuts to slightly panning over the group of boys and men, who are looking at the camera.)
man 3, speaking in Arabic: “They stripped us off, stripped us naked. They blindfolded us then took us one by one and started beating us-(cut to 2 young men showing their scars, one being the same young man from earlier.)-then, when they took us to the buses they tortured us with electric shocks. (cut to the man talking to the camera. there are men, boys, and women int he background.) They forced us to take narcotic pills. Narcotic pills, water, crystal meth, and dirty water. They also stomped on our heads.”
(cut to a man showing the camera his wrists, which are scarred. then, cut to man 1 speaking again, with men and boys still in the background.)man 1, speaking in Arabic: “They were lifting our heads and then smashing them with a rock or anything they had. They had something like metal rings in their hands and they were using them to beat us.”
(cut to a mans jacket being raised to show an injury on his upper back)
man 4, speaking in Arabic: “In the morning, I was sitting when he came and burnt my back with a cigarette and started insulting me. (cut to video of the man speaking to the camera-him being the same man with the injury-with boys watching in the background) Now I have a big wound on my back. Then in the afternoon, when they started putting us in vehicles, they beat us.(cut to another shot of the group of men sitting and talking, then cut to a video of man 2 speaking again, still with a boy watching in the background.)
"My brother has severe injuries in his intestines. He had surgery on his intenstines. They tortured him with electric shocks. (cut back to the shot of the camera panning over the group of boys and men) He was screaming and telling them that he was patient. Whenever he was telling them that he was patient they were torturing him even more.”
man 4, speaking in Arabic: “They put our heads in the water and forced us to walk on glass. (cut to the man speaking with other men watching in the background) They were trying to extract confessions about Hamas or Fatah members. They wanted to know who has missiles. We told them that we didn’t know anything. We are simple people!”
(cut back to the previous young men showing their wrist injuries, then more video of the men talking to one another.)
man 1, speaking in Arabic: “They made us pee on ourselves. We did that because of the severe beating. (cut to man 1 speaking with boys and men watching in the background) If you tell them that you need to go to the bathroom they say no. (man one shaking his finger in a ‘no’ gesture, towards the camera) You can’t go to the bathroom.”(cut to and older man-man 5-lying down on a medical bed. then, cut to his face when he starts talking, while there is beeping in the background.)
man 5, speaking in Arabic: “They blindfolded me and handcuffed me for 30 days. Yes, for 30 days. They were coming for us and we were not seeing anything, (not clear) (cut to video of two other men talking in medical beds) In the first 18 days, I didn’t eat anything. Only water. Then, they started giving me either an apple or a cucumber. One day an apple and the other a cucumber.”(cut to another man speaking-man 6.)
man 6, speaking in Arabic: “For me, they put me in a tent and pointed a gun at me, and they said: 'Choose, how do you want to die? Or we will throw you in the sea.’ I said: 'If God wants me to die as a martyr, then I would die as a martyr.’ He said: 'Do you want it to go to the right or left?’ (cut to the man showing an injury, a hole in his stomach) I said: 'I don’t know.’ He said: 'I don’t want you to die as a martyr, go to the right side.’ (cut back to him speaking) Then they kept us between 10 to 12 hours on the stones. They made me put on diapers because I was banned from going to the bathroom. I had to do it in the diapers. (cut to video of men sitting with a woman indoors) For three days, they forced me to sit on my knees without moving. Moving was prohibited. I was only resting when it was lunchtime. (cut back to man talking) For 10 hours I was being suspended, sometimes with my hand tied to the back like this, (he looks at the camera while he puts his hands behind his back before returning to his original position) and sometimes with my hands tied in front of me. They were pulling the chains upwards and then leaving them suddenly” (motioning as if he is pulling up a chain with his index finger and thumb, and then suddenly dropping it.)(cut to a video of another man lying down-man 7.)
man 7, speaking in Arabic: “Since the day they detained me until now, I’ve been wounded in my leg. He stomped it and severely harmed it.”(pointing to his leg off camera, then cutting to show his injured leg, before cutting to another man, man 8.)
man 8, speaking in Arabic: “I was detained for 18 days. 3 days before detaining us, they were targeting houses, shooting at all the houses. On the fourth day, bulldozers and tanks came. They were bulldozing the entire area. (cut to the video zoomed out on him sitting while an older man sits next to him and looks off camera and a young boy looks around, sitting next to the older man.) They held us in an apartment that they had already occupied in the area. (cut back to him talking) We stayed there 48 hours, no water, no food, nothing. We were only handcuffed with our hands to the back. (he puts his hands behind his back before returning to his original position) They beat us and humiliated us. When they saw us sleeping, they were burning our backs with a lighter. (crosses his arm to put his hand on his back) They burnt my back with cigarettes several times. (hand slides back down) A guy asked him for water, so he told him to open his mouth. The guy, who was blindfolded and did not see anything, opened his mouth. Then, the soldier spit in his mouth. (camera pans down to show the mans bandaged leg, his hand on his knee before going back to hold his other hand.) My leg was injured. (cut back to his face while he is speaking.) They tortured using Shabeh on a fence. There was a guy, who has his arm amputated at the beginning of the war. They were were suspending him on one arm. They kept him like that for 3 or 4 hours. (cut back to his leg) Every hour was like years. The torture was unbelievable. (cut to his wrists, which are scarred) Before releasing us today, they tortured us more than they did in the past 18 days. (cut back to his face while he is speaking) My message for the world is to look at those detainees.(points upwards then points to camera, before putting his hand back down.) We are respected people, not animals, we are respected people. (cut back to a video of man 7 lying down)” /end id.]