Palestinian detainee released back to Gaza recalls 'torture' by Israeli soldiers

A Palestinian man detained by Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip said he was psychically and psychologically tortured for weeks.

Speaking to Middle East Eye after his release, Ali Hamdan said the soldiers held detainees in stress positions if they did not comply with their strict orders.

"They tortured us from the moment we arrived at the detention facility in Zikim. They beat us, verbally abused us and humiliated us. The verbal abuse was worse than the beatings," said Hamdan.

The 53-year-old was detained in December from Jabalia, north of Gaza City. His home had been bombed in earlier air strikes, which killed his wife, daughters and son-in-law.

When ground troops reached Jabalia, they carried out mass arrests of young men, Hamdan said. When they wanted to detain his son, he tried to resist them, so they arrested him instead.

"For over 42 days, my hands were tied and I was blindfolded. From 5am till 11pm, we were forced to sit in a specific position and if you didn't follow orders, they beat you and put you in a stress position," he said.

During his detention, he says he was interrogated five times while soldiers hit him.

"We were stripped down to our boxers in the cold and they did not care about the sick and elders, including people who were aged 75 or older.

"We had four minutes a week to use the bathroom. If you spent longer than that they put you in a stress position."

Reporting by Ahmed Aziz in Rafah, occupied Palestine