Israel hasn’t said who its soldiers abused. Two Gaza mothers think it’s their son
By Mahmoud Issa and Rami Ayyub
GAZA/JERUSALEM, July 4 (Reuters) – The photo shows a blindfolded Gaza man stripped to his underwear and laid face down on a cot while in Israeli custody.
Israel says the image is real and acknowledges that the treatment depicted in the image is “not compatible” with its military’s values. However, it has not yet been stated who the man is or where he is being held.
This further increased the suffering of two Palestinian mothers, Rana Abu Nassar and Joudeh Al-Ghoul; Each of them is absolutely certain that the man mistreated in the picture is his lost son.
In a screenshot of an Instagram post, the man’s hands are tied behind his back and his right foot is tied to the bottom corner of the bed. A wooden stick is tied to the back of his body, extending from his right foot to his neck. His face is mostly hidden.
In the post uploaded to Instagram by a user whose account seems to have been deleted, “good morning” was written in Hebrew on the photo.
The army said that “the incident has been detected, the investigation is ongoing and those involved will be dealt with according to the findings.” The spokesman did not disclose the man’s name or the location where he was detained.
‘I KNOW THE DETAILS OF THE BODY’
Abu Nassar said he knew it was his son Osama from the moment he saw the photo two days ago.
“I know the details about his body. He has swelling on his foot and scars on his leg; the same swelling I see in the picture is also on his left leg,” he said.
He said it was the first photo he had seen since his arrest in March in an area near Israel’s ceasefire line with Hamas militants.
Osama’s arrest on March 19 attracted international attention because he was released the same day along with his 1-year-old child, whose family said he had cigarette burn marks on his legs.
His mother said Osama suffered from mental health problems and that “no normal person would take their son” to the area near the so-called “Yellow Line” where Israeli forces frequently fire on Palestinians.
The Israeli army has denied allegations that its forces abused Osama’s son. It was stated that the marks on the boy’s legs were the result of warning shots fired by soldiers to force Osama not to approach the Yellow Line. Reuters was unable to independently verify the circumstances surrounding his arrest.
Al-Ghoul, whose son Amin was arrested in November 2023 while trying to travel from the south of Gaza to the north of the region, also said that he recognized the man in the picture from the moment he saw him.
“This is him; his hair and his chin. He is my son. A mother’s heart can recognize her son. I grabbed his mobile phone and started crying,” she said from the displaced persons camp in Gaza City. “He is my son, my soul, my life.”
PALESTINE GROUP WANTS A LAWYER VISIT WITH TWO MEN
Approximately 1,200 Palestinians from Gaza are held in Israel under the Detention of Illegal Combatants Act, which provides an unlimited period of detention for individuals believed to be directly or indirectly involved in hostile actions.
Amani Sarahneh of the Palestinian Prisoners Association said that since the photo was published, the organization had given the names of both men to the military for lawyer visits.
“Visits are taking place, but with great difficulty. The coordination process takes a very long time,” Sarahneh said. he said.
(Reporting by Mahmud Issa in Gaza and Rami Ayyub in Jerusalem, additional reporting by Pesha Magid; Editing by Peter Graff)
