“They put us in the cage and came to beat us”: a Palestinian woman who passed through the Anatot camp describes hell

This Gazan inmate from the Anatot camp was arrested when she was a minor.

“They put us in animal cages with small sharp stones on the floor. They threw us on these stones, we hit ourselves and hurt ourselves. It was very cold because the cage was made of open wire mesh with a tin roof. We asked for blankets to protect us from the cold, but they refused and did not allow us to use the toilet on the first day.

When they put us in the cage, soldiers (men and women) came in and beat us with their hands and feet. They kept coming to beat us at all times of the day. Even my grandmother was beaten, regardless of her age. We stayed in this cage for 6 days, our hands handcuffed even to go to the toilet, where they only took off our blindfolds.

Our food consisted of four pieces of toast with a container of cheese, three times a day, and we had to eat while chained. We could only use the bathroom with permission, and the bathroom was just a hole. We could sleep from 10 p.m. until around 5 a.m., and the rest of the time we had to sit on the floor without moving.

When they allowed us to sleep, they would bring a big speaker and play loud music, dance, and bring food like barbecues and drinks to demoralize us. On the second day, they provided one blanket per inmate and we slept on something very thin, like nylon. There were 20 inmates in the cage.

We only received blows on the first day in the cage; the rest of the time they didn't come to beat us, but focused on psychological torture. They showed the laser sights of their weapons, disturbed our sleep with loud music, banging on the cage, constant insults, and took videos with their phones while making fun of us. The soldiers guarding the cage wore dark military uniforms. After about 6 days, they transferred us to Damon Prison, which took about 8 hours.

During the transfer, our hands were shackled in front, our legs shackled and we were blindfolded with our backs bent forward on the bus. They beat us a lot during the transfer. A female soldier grabbed me by the ties and twisted my hand, and they hit us on the back with their weapons to make us lower our heads, kicking us with their boots.

Since my grandmother could not get on the bus alone due to her limited mobility, they pushed and hit her to make her get on. A soldier tightened our blindfolds, which covered our entire face, including our nose and mouth, making it difficult for me to breathe.

When we arrived at Damon, I described to the inmates the cage we had been in for 6 days, and they said it was Anatot based on my description. I could hear the call to prayer, and we were surrounded by mountains and trees. When we arrived at Damon, they placed us in a cage filled with insects, then they began the intake procedures, taking our information and fingerprints.

The detainees from the West Bank welcomed us, gave us clothes that belonged to them and explained to us the conditions of detention and how to proceed. I was placed in a room with four other inmates, including my grandmother, my sister and my cousin. The room was very small, intended for 3 people, but they put us in 5, 3 sleeping on the beds and 2 on the floor.

There was a distinction between detainees from Gaza and those from the West Bank. Detainees in Gaza had shorter court time, about a quarter of an hour per day, while those in the West Bank had one hour. The food was very bad, consisting of undercooked dry rice, undercooked pasta and inedible burnt eggs. We ate very little, even the vegetables they brought were bad and rotten. They told us: “We only provide you with food to survive, not to satiate you. »

My grandmother suffers from many health problems, including high blood pressure, heart problems. They gave him medicine to manage his condition. We stayed in Damon for 45 days. We were never brought into court, but only questioned Damon twice, each time about October 7 and other topics, for about 45 minutes for each girl.

We finally received a release decision, but the army delayed it and transferred us to a camp that I later learned was Sde Teiman, with 20 other detainees. We stayed there for 4 days in the same conditions as Anatot, with constant constraints, humiliation, loud music and dancing. We were finally released. »

This testimony was collected by lawyers for the Addameer association, dedicated to the defense of human rights in Palestine.