Israeli prison releases Palestinian with Star of David shaved on to his head
Following three years in Israeli detention, Palestinian prisoner Musab Qatawi faced one final ordeal before being released on Thursday.
Israeli prison guards shoved his head into a rubbish bin and shaved part of his hair, drawing the Star of David on to his head.
In an interview with Middle East Eye in his hometown of Qalqilya, in the occupied West Bank, Qatawi said he was released in the same batch as Ahmad Manasra, who spent a decade behind bars after being arrested at the age of 13 and suffered a similar treatment before his release.
“They gathered us after dawn, counted us and took us,” Qatawi said.
“At that moment, I found Ahmad Manasra among the people. We reached the Ramon area. They took our pictures, had us sign papers," he added.
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"The moment we were to be released, they brought a rubbish bin, held our heads and put them in while they beat us. [A guard] drew the Star of David on my head.”
Israeli forces have previously been accused of using the Star of David, a religious Jewish symbol featured on Israel's flag, to mistreat Palestinians.
In August 2023, Israeli forces imprinted the Star of David on to a Palestinian man’s cheek in the occupied West Bank.
Since the start of Israel's war on Gaza in October 2023, conditions for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails have severely worsened and led to several accusations of human rights violations.
Dozens of prisoners have been killed, while others have described severe beatings, torture and sexual abuse.
Some Palestinian prisoners released in recent months also had numbers branded on their foreheads.
Itamar Ben Gvir, Israel's national security minister, boasted in July that he had made conditions for Palestinian prisoners much worse.
"Since I assumed the position of minister of national security, one of the highest goals I have set for myself is to worsen the conditions of the terrorists in the prisons and to reduce their rights to the minimum required by law," Ben Gvir said at the time.
Qatawi was being held at the Nafha Prison, where he says he and his cellmates were beaten daily by guards.
“We were severely beaten,” he said. “They insulted us a lot, stepped on us, used dogs against us. It was very hard.”
Qatawi also described a “lack of food, lack of hygiene, diseases”, among other issues.
He called on Palestinian and international organisations to act in order to protect detainees, saying their situation is “more than dangerous”.
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