Released Palestinian prisoner reveals their use as human shields by Israel army

“They used us as human shields and strapped cameras on us to record footage of bombed houses and vehicles,” said Saad, a resident of the Jabalya Refugee Camp in the northern Gaza Strip.
According to testimonies from other former detainees, the army would instruct them to film dangerous locations that could potentially be targeted by Palestinian fighters as part of reconnaissance and information-gathering missions.
He recalled an instance when he was sent out to film a bombed Israeli military vehicle but was injured and lost consciousness.
“The next day, I woke up in a hospital, wounded,” he recounted.
On torture methods inside Israeli prisons, Saad said they were subjected to severe beatings. “One day, I asked them to release me, and they struck me forcefully with the butt of a rifle on my eyebrow.”
He further explained that the army deliberately beat, tortured, starved and deprived Palestinian detainees of water, only allowing them to use the bathroom once a day.
Saad returned to Gaza on Friday morning through the Karm Abu Salem Crossing after spending 45 days in Israeli prisons.
Since the outbreak of the Israeli war on Gaza last October, Israeli, Palestinian and international human rights organisations have reported deteriorating conditions in Israeli prisons, particularly in the notorious Sde Teiman prison.
Since launching its ground operation in Gaza on 27 October, the Israeli army has detained thousands of Palestinian civilians, including women, children and members of health and civil defence teams.
In recent months, the army has released dozens of Palestinian prisoners from Gaza in gradual intervals. Many of those released showed signs of deteriorating health, with their bodies bearing marks of torture and medical neglect.
Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since a 7 October, 2023 attack by Hamas.
Nearly 40,000 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and over 91,700 injured, according to local health authorities.
Over 10 months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.
Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered it to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on 6 May.