Before his release, Israeli prison guards decided to send Naseem al-Radee off with what they called a "farewell". They tied his hands, forced him to the ground, and beat him brutally, ending his 22-month imprisonment the same way it began: with brutality.

When al-Radee finally caught sight of Gaza again after nearly two years, his vision was blurred from a boot to the eye, leaving him partially blind for days. The 33-year-old government worker from Beit Lahia said his eyesight problems were just one of many injuries he sustained during his detention.

Israeli occupation forces had arrested al-Radee on December 9, 2023, from a school-turned-shelter in Gaza. Over the next 22 months, he was shuffled between several Israeli detention centers, spending 100 days in an underground cell, before being released with 1,700 other Palestinian detainees on Monday.

'Beating us mercilessly'

Like the others released, al-Radee had never been charged with a crime. His account, marked by physical torture, starvation, and medical neglect, mirrors the testimonies of many others released under similar conditions.

Al-Radee’s ordeal, he said, reflected what the Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem has described as a systemic policy of abuse targeting Palestinian detainees. 

“The conditions in the prison were extremely harsh, from having our hands and feet bound to being subjected to the cruelest forms of torture,” al-Radee told The Guardian, describing his time in Nafha prison in al-Naqab desert, his final place of detention.

He explained that the beatings were not random but a daily routine enforced with military precision. “They used teargas and rubber bullets to intimidate us, in addition to constant verbal abuse and insults,” he said.

“They had a strict system of repression; the electronic gate of the section would open when the soldiers entered, and they would come in with their dogs, shouting ‘on your stomach, on your stomach,’ and start beating us mercilessly.”

Tortured, starved, and caged in conditions unfit for human life

According to al-Radee, up to 14 Palestinian detainees were packed into cells meant for five. The unhygienic conditions caused widespread skin and fungal infections, which went untreated. Another recently released detainee, 22-year-old university student Mohammed al-Asaliya, said he contracted scabies while imprisoned in Nafha.

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“There was no medical care. We tried to treat ourselves by using floor disinfectant on our wounds, but it only made them worse,” Asaliya said. “The mattresses were filthy, the environment unhealthy, our immunity weak, and the food contaminated.”

He described a notorious section of the prison known as “the disco", where guards blasted loud music for two days straight as a form of psychological torture. “They also hung us on walls, sprayed us with cold air and water, and sometimes threw chili powder on detainees,” Asaliya added.

Weight loss; a common result

Both men lost significant weight during their detention. Radee said his weight dropped from 93 kilograms to 60, while Asaliya fell from 75 to 42 kilograms at one point.

Palestinian health officials confirmed that many detainees released on Monday arrived in critical condition.

“The signs of beating and torture were clearly visible on the prisoners’ bodies, such as bruises, fractures, wounds, marks from being dragged on the ground, and the marks of restraints that had bound their hands tightly,” said Eyad Qaddih, the public relations director at Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza, which received several of the released detainees.

He added that many had to be rushed to the emergency room and appeared to have been deprived of food for extended periods.

'Israel' transformed abuse into official policy 

According to the Public Committee Against Torture in "Israel" (PCATI), around 2,800 Palestinians from Gaza remain in Israeli detention without charge. The practice of mass incarceration, rights groups say, has been enabled by legislative changes introduced after 7 October 2023.

An amendment passed in December 2023 to "Israel’s" Unlawful Combatants Law allows for indefinite administrative detention based solely on “reasonable grounds” that a detainee is an “unlawful combatant.”

Israeli human rights advocates argue that the surge in arrests has coincided with a steep deterioration in detention conditions, transforming abuse into an official policy.

“Generally, the amount and scale of torture and abuse in Israeli prisons and military camps has skyrocketed since 7 October. We see that as part of the policy led by Israeli decision-makers such as Itamar Ben-Gvir and others,” said Tal Steiner, executive director of PCATI.

Ben-Gvir, "Israel’s" far-right police minister, has openly boasted of providing detainees with “the minimum amount of food.” In July, he wrote on social media, “I am here to ensure that the ‘terrorists’ receive the minimum of the minimum.”

'My joy went with her'

For many of the released detainees, however, the greatest pain awaited them at home. Upon returning to Gaza, al-Radee tried to call his wife, only to discover that her phone was disconnected. He later learned that his wife and all but one of his children had been killed during his imprisonment.

“I was very happy to be released because the date coincided with my youngest daughter Saba’s third birthday on 13 October,” he said. “I had planned to make her the best gift to make up for her first birthday, which we could not celebrate because the war had started.”

“I tried to find some joy in being released on this day,” al-Radee added softly, “but sadly, Saba went with my family, and my joy went with her.”