Palestinian man says he needs he may see household, Gaza after shedding eyesight in jail

[ad_1] Mahmoud Abu Foul returned to Gaza after spending greater than 9 months in Israeli detention. However when he was again on residence soil, amid tons of of people that had gathered to greet the launched detainees, he couldn't even go searching to search out his household as a result of he misplaced his eyesight whereas imprisoned.

The 28-year-old Palestinian, who misplaced his left leg in a 2015 Israeli airstrike, mentioned he was subjected to repeated beatings and torture at a infamous Israeli navy jail that left him blind.

“I walked out of jail, wishing and dreaming that I may see even with only one eye,” Abu Foul mentioned, talking to a CBC Information freelance videographer from a tent in Nuseirat refugee camp, within the central Gaza Strip, the place he now lives along with his mom.

Abu Foul was detained by the Israel Defence Forces on Dec. 27, 2024, at Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, the place he was receiving therapy for his amputated leg after shedding it in an Israeli airstrike on Jabalia a decade in the past.

When troops raided the ability, they compelled the evacuation of tons of of employees and detained others — together with Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, a hospital director who turned the face of the battle to deal with sufferers beneath Israeli siege and bombardment, and who stays detained.

On Oct. 13, Abu Foul was amongst greater than 1,700 Palestinian detainees who had been launched by Israel beneath its present ceasefire take care of Hamas, after being seized from Gaza in the course of the struggle and held with out cost. A whole bunch of others had been launched within the Israeli-occupied West Financial institution, whereas 154 individuals had been deported to Egypt.

“Once we arrived, I may odor the air of my nation. However the pleasure was way more muted with out the power to see," he mentioned.

<img loading="lazy" alt="A hand holds a phone showing an image of a man smiling." srcset="https://i.cbc.ca/ais/977350c1-aba9-44b8-9840-6ef89398d7e6,1761236106244/full/max/0/default.jpg?im=Crop%2Crect%3D%280%2C0%2C3300%2C1856%29%3BResize%3D805 805w,https://i.cbc.ca/ais/977350c1-aba9-44b8-9840-6ef89398d7e6,1761236106244/full/max/0/default.jpg?im=Crop%2Crect%3D%280%2C0%2C3300%2C1856%29%3BResize%3D1104 1104w,https://i.cbc.ca/ais/977350c1-aba9-44b8-9840-6ef89398d7e6,1761236106244/full/max/0/default.jpg?im=Crop%2Crect%3D%280%2C0%2C3300%2C1856%29%3BResize%3D1280 1280w" sizes="(max-width: 762px) 93.6vw,730px" src="https://i.cbc.ca/ais/977350c1-aba9-44b8-9840-6ef89398d7e6,1761236106244/full/max/0/default.jpg?im=Crop%2Crect%3D%280%2C0%2C3300%2C1856%29%3B" style="aspect-ratio:1.7780172413793103" data-cy="image-img"/> Abu Foul's mom shows a photograph of him taken on her cellphone earlier than the struggle in Gaza broke out two years in the past. He misplaced his left leg in a 2015 Israeli airstrike and was set to journey overseas for a prosthetic leg earlier than the newest hostilities. (Mohamed El Saife/CBC) His mom, Umm Ahed Abu Foul, mentioned she discovered him at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis a number of hours after the detainees had returned.

“It was the shock of my life to strategy my son [after he was released] … to see that he had misplaced his eyesight,” she advised CBC Information.

“As you may see within the photograph, my son was like a blossoming flower,” Umm Ahed, 59, mentioned, pointing to an image on her cellphone that confirmed her son smiling. “For the reason that day I noticed my son, the tears received’t dry from my coronary heart, not my eyes.”

WATCH | Man remembers his return to Gaza after shedding eyesight in Israeli jail: Gaza man says abuse in Israeli jail left him blind

Mahmoud Abu Foul was detained by the Israeli navy in late December after troops raided Kamal Adwan Hospital within the northern Gaza city of Beit Lahiya. The 28-year-old had beforehand misplaced his left leg in an Israeli airstrike on Jabalia in 2015. After spending greater than 9 months in Israeli detention with out cost earlier than being launched this month, he says he was left blind on account of the torture he suffered. The Israel Defence Forces, which runs some detention centres, beforehand mentioned it categorically rejects allegations of systematic abuse reported by the United Nations and different human rights teams. 'I may solely hear their voices' Abu Foul was set to journey overseas for a prosthetic leg earlier than the struggle broke out in October 2023, following a Hamas-led assault on southern Israel that killed about 1,200 individuals and noticed 250 taken hostage. Israel's navy response has killed about 68,000 Palestinians, Gaza well being authorities say, and destroyed a lot of the enclave.

However regardless of the lack of his leg years earlier, and having to constantly be on the transfer since struggle broke out in 2023, Abu Foul mentioned shedding his imaginative and prescient was probably the most tough factor he has confronted.

“I wanted I may’ve seen the destruction, I wanted I may’ve seen every thing ... my household — I may solely hear their voices," he advised CBC Information freelance videographer Mohamed El Saife.

WATCH | Detainees greeted by tons of in Gaza and West Financial institution final week: Palestinian prisoners, detainees warmly obtained in Gaza, Ramallah

Crowds in Gaza and the occupied West Financial institution celebrated the return of Palestinian prisoners and detainees launched as a part of a negotiated alternate with Israel. Abu Foul mentioned he was accused of terrorism and subjected to common beatings by guards throughout interrogation when he was taken to Sde Teiman, within the Negev desert in southern Israel.

“They detained me like they detain everybody else — false accusations of terrorism that they place on all detainees. We’re not terrorists,” he mentioned.

CBC Information reached out to Israel’s Justice Ministry, its jail service and the Israel Defence Forces (IDF). The Workplace of the Minister of Justice acknowledged the request however didn't reply in time for publication.

Common, extreme beatings alleged The obscure barracks the place Abu Foul was held are on a navy base that doubled as a detention facility throughout Israel's struggle on Gaza. Sde Teiman turned the centre of accusations that the Israeli navy had been severely abusing Palestinian detainees some months into the struggle.

"[The guards] unleash all their torture on you … the barracks had been torture," he mentioned.

Recalling his time there, he mentioned he and others had been additionally compelled to repeat insults about themselves and their household as a type of humiliation.

"No person may settle for it for themselves. It is probably the most tough factor, to say these foul, ridiculous issues about your loved ones — your mother, your sisters, your spouse," Abu Foul mentioned.

<img loading="lazy" alt="A woman sits next to a man at a tent encampment." srcset="https://i.cbc.ca/ais/252b5539-1f02-4d37-9adf-8efd8a9adc13,1761238429535/full/max/0/default.jpg?im=Crop%2Crect%3D%280%2C0%2C3300%2C1856%29%3BResize%3D805 805w,https://i.cbc.ca/ais/252b5539-1f02-4d37-9adf-8efd8a9adc13,1761238429535/full/max/0/default.jpg?im=Crop%2Crect%3D%280%2C0%2C3300%2C1856%29%3BResize%3D1104 1104w,https://i.cbc.ca/ais/252b5539-1f02-4d37-9adf-8efd8a9adc13,1761238429535/full/max/0/default.jpg?im=Crop%2Crect%3D%280%2C0%2C3300%2C1856%29%3BResize%3D1280 1280w" sizes="(max-width: 762px) 93.6vw,730px" src="https://i.cbc.ca/ais/252b5539-1f02-4d37-9adf-8efd8a9adc13,1761238429535/full/max/0/default.jpg?im=Crop%2Crect%3D%280%2C0%2C3300%2C1856%29%3B" style="aspect-ratio:1.7780172413793103" data-cy="image-img"/> Abu Foul, left, and his mom reside in a tent within the central Gaza Strip, with no residence left to return to in northern Gaza after the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas took impact earlier this month. (Mohamed El Saife/CBC) Abu Foul mentioned he additionally suffered extreme again ache from the beatings and from being compelled to take a seat on the bottom all day with out shifting his head or leaning in opposition to something for help — making it tough now for him to stroll or transfer.

Someday, he was knocked unconscious for 2 hours after being hit on the top by a jail guard, he mentioned, and awoke to search out he had misplaced his imaginative and prescient. Abu Foul mentioned he repeatedly requested for medical therapy and was given eye drops, which did nothing to assist his eyes, together with the ache and discharge he was experiencing.

The Israeli navy, which runs some detention services the place Palestinian prisoners have been held, has beforehand mentioned it operated in response to the rule of regulation and that any particular claims of abuse had been investigated.

"The IDF categorically rejects allegations of systematic abuse, together with sexual abuse, in its detention services," it beforehand advised Reuters in August 2024 in response to the B'Tselem report, including that monitoring mechanisms had been in place to make sure services had been run in accordance with the regulation.

'Systematic' torture documented in Israeli prisons In a report revealed in August 2024, Israeli human rights group B'Tselem mentioned Israel has carried out a scientific coverage of prisoner abuse and torture because the begin of the struggle in Gaza, subjecting Palestinian detainees to acts starting from arbitrary violence to sexual abuse.

"The testimonies clearly point out a scientific, institutional coverage targeted on the continuous abuse and torture of all Palestinian prisoners held by Israel," the report mentioned.

WATCH | Leaked photograph from infamous jail sparks concern: Man pictured in viral photograph at Israeli jail speaks

Ibrahim Salem's photograph on the Sde Teiman jail in Israel's Negev desert went viral after it was leaked to CNN and unfold on social media. Salem says standing on the fence along with his arms up, as he was seen doing within the photograph, was a type of punishment he endured throughout his 52-day detention within the navy base turned jail. Addameer, a Palestinian prisoner rights group, says some 2,673 Palestinians from Gaza are at the moment detained beneath Israel's Illegal Combatants Regulation — describing it as a type of administrative detention.

Final month, the United Nations known as on Israeli authorities to “urgently finish the systematic torture and different ill-treatment of Palestinians held of their prisons and different locations of detention and defend and guarantee their proper to life." It has beforehand known as out Israel for holding Palestinians beneath arbitrary, extended and incommunicado detention.

In a information launch, the UN mentioned the documented therapy of Palestinian prisoners by Israel included “repeated beatings, waterboarding, stress positions, using rape and different sexual and gender-based violence and the imposition of intentionally inhumane circumstances resembling hunger and the denial of fresh garments, hygiene requirements and medical care.”

The UN’s Human Rights Workplace within the occupied Palestinian territory documented a minimum of 75 Palestinians who died in Israeli detention, together with 49 from Gaza, between Oct. 7, 2023, and Aug. 31, 2025.

“Israeli authorities have intentionally imposed circumstances of detention that quantity to torture or different types of ill-treatment and which have contributed to the deaths of detainees, whereas the tradition of impunity and the denial of Worldwide Committee of the Purple Cross (ICRC) entry have predictably fostered excessive violence in opposition to Palestinians in Israeli jails,” the UN information launch added.