Testimony from a detainee and his family: “Today you went home on your legs, tomorrow you’ll leave in a black plastic bag” … Beating, abuse, and threats
Since the first day of “Al-Aqsa Flood” Operation, the occupation authorities began a campaign of arrests and raids in the city of Jerusalem, and the Wadi Hilweh Information Center - Jerusalem monitored more than 180 arrests within 13 days, including children, boys, women, and young men, including field arrests, or after raiding their homes.
The Wadi Hilweh Information Center - Jerusalem explained that the arrests that took place from the homes of Jerusalemites, during which the contents were vandalized, a complete search of the house was carried out, the furniture was destroyed, and the contents of the cupboards (rooms, kitchens, bathrooms) were emptied, in addition to the search of the family’s vehicles and the yards of the houses. The center also monitored the process of completely demolishing interior walls during a search of a house in Sur Baher several days after its owner was arrested.
The center added that it monitored several cases of assault and beating during arrest from home, where the person is beaten in front of his family members, and the family is also assaulted by hitting and pushing them if they try to intervene, in addition to conducting a field investigation with the family members.
In this report, the center documents the arrest of a young man from Jerusalem in the middle of the week, and what happened to him and his family members.
A Jerusalemite family - who preferred not to mention its name - explained what happened to them during the storming of their house in the middle of this week in the city of Jerusalem, to arrest their son. They told the Wadi Hilweh Information Center the details and said: “The forces stormed the house, and at that time the ‘young man wanted for arrest’ was not present, and until his arrival, the forces stormed his room, detained his father, and began searching and vandalizing the room’s contents, “the bed, the cabinets, the desk...and everything inside.”
The family added: “During the inspection, the forces found the Saudi flag, so they began directing insults and provocations to the family.”
The family explained: “During the inspection, the young man’s father was pushed several times while he was detained inside the room, and within minutes his son, who was wanted for arrest, arrived. The forces immediately arrested him, detained him inside his room, took his father out, and began beating him in the face. When his mother tried to intervene, one of the soldiers hit her on the stomach twice and pushed her to prevent her from entering.”
The forces detained the young man inside his room and severely beat him, while they detained his family members outside the room, preventing their exit or movement, including children. They seized the phones and began interrogating the family members randomly, during which the prayer alarm sounded on the phone of one of the family members, a “minor boy.” The soldier objected and said, “You are all terrorists,” while he checked the screensavers on the family’s phones and interrogated their owners.”
The family added that the forces searched the bags of the family's two children, and while they were examining the books, they objected to teaching the Palestinian curriculum, as the books had "the Palestinian flag " on them, and they tried to direct insults at the family during that time, and one of them said: "Curricula for teaching terrorism."
The family explained that all of this happened while the young man was detained in his room, then they came out and took him to the police car.
As for the young man, “who was released after several hours,” he explained that the forces assaulted him with electric shocks and beatings with batons, hands, and feet, from the moment he arrived home until he arrived at the center.
He explained that during his detention inside the investigation center, sirens sounded in the city of Jerusalem, and he said: “During that, the forces began to consult, ‘Should we take him to the shelter or should he stay in the room?’ Then they took me with them to the shelter after consultation. Nearly 30 soldiers and I were inside the shelter. Each soldier deliberately beat me on my face and back. Every soldier who moved hit me in his own way until we left the shelter.”
The young man pointed out that a strong blow was directed at him in the chest, causing him to lose consciousness, and he was taken to the hospital for treatment. Upon his arrival to the hospital, he was unable to walk on his feet due to the beatings and electric shocks on them, so he was transported in a wheelchair.
While the young man was receiving treatment in the hospital while he was under arrest, the investigator called his father and asked him to come to the center for the procedures for releasing his son. During that time, the investigator told him: “Today you take your son on his legs, but tomorrow you will take him in a black bag.” Today there are no rubber bullets and gas in Jerusalem, only live bullets."
The young man arrived at the center after receiving initial treatment in the hospital, and after completing the release procedures, and despite his inability to walk while his father carried him, the investigator walked with them until they reached the door of the center and said to the young man, “Today you leave on your legs, tomorrow you will come out in a black bag... be careful not to cause any problems."
