Freed Palestinian child prisoners recount torture in Israeli custody

Three Palestinian teenagers released in a recent prisoner exchange were abducted by Israeli soldiers while seeking aid and tortured in custody, a new report has revealed.

In interviews conducted by the NGO Defense for Children Palestine (DCIP), Mohammad Nael Khamis al-Zoghbi, 17, Faris Ibrahim Faris Abu Jabal, 16, and Mahmoud Hani Mohammad al-Majayda, 17, described how they were abducted by Israeli forces near aid distribution points and transferred to the notorious Sde Teiman detention camp in southern Israel. 

They said they endured torture, beatings and starvation in Israeli custody. The trauma has left them unable to sleep, and they are plagued by night terrors and bed wetting.

One of the boys said he felt his detention had "stripped away his childhood".

Jabal, who was abducted along with his father while seeking aid near the Morag Corridor on 11 September, recalled being so badly beaten during his interrogation that his forehead “split open and required stitches”.

Read more: Freed Palestinian child prisoners recount torture in Israeli custody