‘He died in my arms': Videos emerge of released Palestinian prisoners recalling detention conditions

Videos have emerged of recently released Palestinian prisoners detailing their experiences of torture and abuse in Israeli detention.

The men were among a group of 50 prisoners who were released on 11 June through the Zikim crossing west of Beit Lahia in northern Gaza, and are now receiving treatment at Kamal Adwan Hospital.

In the videos, which are being circulated online, one former detainee and cancer patient, Mohammad Aklouk recalled how a 31-year-old fellow prisoner died in his arms after being struck on the head by Israeli soldiers.

“I was reading the Quran when the Israeli special forces came in and told us to lie on our stomachs,’ he said. “They hit him on the head…he died in my arms,” he recalled. “He said to send a message to his mother.” “They [the Israeli forces] took him away in a bag as if he were a dead chicken.”

Aklouk said that his cell was so small that he couldn’t “see the daylight,” so he was forced to gauge his prayer times from the size of the shadows cast from the columns.

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