To be a Palestinian child, trying to survive Israeli jail | Occupied West Bank

For 10 long months, 16-year-old Hussein* lived in the same clothes he was wearing when he was detained on October 3.

His trousers were still bloodstained when he was released.

On October 3, he was shot in the right thigh by Israeli forces in a watchtower near the occupied West Bank city of Hebron.

Hussein fell to the ground and saw two Israeli soldiers walking towards him. They beat him, kicking him in the head until he lost consciousness.

He woke up three days later in a hospital, only to realise he had undergone surgery and was about to be taken to Ofer Prison.

That was only days before Israel unleashed its continuing assault on Gaza and the last time he received any medical attention in detention.

Can’t walk

Hussein is one of hundreds of children Israel has detained over the years, a number that has multiplied dramatically since Israel began its assault on Gaza on October 7 and intensified its daily raids and mass arrest campaigns in the West Bank.

He used to love going to the gym, challenging himself to lift more. He also loved playing football with his friends.

Now, he limps, needs crutches to walk, and spends most of his day lying on a mattress.

He will require joint implant surgery once he is done growing at the age of 18.

“I’m really struggling … I can’t walk properly or catch up with any of my friends any more,” Hussein told Al Jazeera.

Medical negligence is just one of the many forms of abuse, torture, humiliation and mistreatment  Palestinian prisoners face in Israeli detention facilities, according to several rights groups.

Along with UN agencies, they have shed light on the systematic abuse being committed.

More than 700 arrests of children have been documented by the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society since October 7. Currently, 250 of them remain in Israeli detention.

“This number, especially compared to previous periods, is very high,” said Amani Sarahneh, spokesperson for the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society.

Sarahneh added that children are abused and tortured the same way adult Palestinian prisoners are.

“A Palestinian child will likely experience every abuse tactic you can think of,” she said, adding that Israeli forces have used them on Palestinian children for many years.

Palestinian detainees are beaten, exposed to the cold for prolonged periods, and deprived of food, sleep, water and medical attention, a report by the UN Human Rights Office last month revealed.

Children today live “in a constant state of hunger inside Israeli jails”, Sarhaneh said.

‘Just enough to keep us alive’

When Wassim left detention, he had vitamin, iron and calcium deficiencies.

“The prison was … unlivable,” he said.

“I would ask for medical treatment every single day, but … no doctors showed up, they didn’t even exist [in the prison],” Wassim said.

Food rations were also largely inadequate: Hussein said that he and the nine other prisoners in his cell would receive food in “a tiny plastic cup”.

“It was just enough to keep us alive,” he said.

“Most days, it was white rice … sometimes, it was undercooked. We’d eat, be full for five minutes, and then continue the rest of the day as if we were fasting.

“We’d be begging for water, and end up drinking contaminated water from the bathroom. We had to … we had no choice,” he recalled.

Israeli prison authorities shut down the canteen where prisoners could buy food and basic supplies and removed electrical devices including hotplates and kettles.

Hussein’s father Omar* said he was worried sick about his son, especially after October 7.

“After the war on Gaza, when we heard how bad things had gotten for Palestinians in Israeli jails, we were devastated,” Omar told Al Jazeera.

“We cried … day and night,” he recalled.

Omar had hoped Hussein would be released in November when Israel and Hamas reached a temporary ceasefire agreement that included the exchange of dozens of Palestinian prisoners with some of the captives held in Gaza.

But despite his injury, Hussein was not released.

“They deprived him of his childhood, and the rest of his life,” Omar said.

According to Omar, a much quieter Hussein is now struggling to reintegrate back into his community. In crowds, he will often retreat into a corner and often wakes up with nightmares.

‘I just want to work and build a home’

In the town of al-Mughayyir, near Ramallah, another Palestinian boy was freed on August 8.

Ahmed Abu Naim, now 18, has been in and out of Israeli detention facilities since he was 15 years old, held at times under administrative detention – being held for renewable six-month periods under the pretext of secret evidence.

There has been an “unprecedented and terrifying spike” in the number of child administrative detainees, according to Palestinian Prisoner’s Society’s Serhaneh, who said at least 40 children are held under the widely criticised practice.

When asked to compare being in detention before and after October 7, Abu Naim said, “The last time I was arrested, it was different; it was much worse than the other times.”

The first time he was arrested, it was for two days. The second time, he was held for just more than a year.

The third time, he spent six months in detention.

He said his most recent experience was “1,000 times harder”.

“They didn’t treat us any different because we were minors,” Abu Naim, who recalled being severely beaten “so many times”, said.

“We were even sprayed with gas sometimes,” he said.

Wearing a baseball cap, he was trying to speak boldly, eager to appear both older and stronger.

Abu Naim has been recovering from scabies, a skin disease that spread in the Megiddo prison, where he was held.

“Hygiene standards were abysmal. We were not allowed to clean and didn’t have access to soap or detergent,” he said.

Overcrowded cells often have twice as many detainees as they were built for, with many sleeping on the floor or mouldy mattresses.

“Everyone there got scabies, including myself,” he said. Again, there was no medical response to the outbreak.

“They didn’t give us any medical attention, of course. I had to buy my own medication when I came home,” he said.

After October 7, cell searches became more frequent, Abu Naim said.

When prison guards entered the cell, all prisoners had to be on their knees, with their hands on their heads. If not, they would “release dogs on us”, he said.

“The guards would hit anyone, it didn’t matter if you’d been injured when they were arresting you. They’d kick your abdomen, ribs, shoulders,” he said.

Additionally, family visits, as well as routine lawyer visits, have also “completely stopped”, Palestinian Prisoner’s Society’s Serhaneh said, affecting behaviour and morale among child detainees.

Abu Naim had no access to a television or radio that could help the time pass, especially in the first 50 days of Israel’s assault on Gaza.

“We had no idea what was happening in the outside world. Every month or two, you’d hear a piece of news from a new prisoner,” he said.

“My village was attacked by illegal settlers and my father was shot and injured, but I only found out when I got home,” he added.

Abu Naim said he now wants to work with his father in construction instead of going back to school.

As the eldest of 10 children, he always felt a strong sense of responsibility towards his family and their wellbeing.

When asked about his dreams, he said: “Simply, to not be taken again. I just want to work and build a home.”

*Some names have been changed to protect peoples’ identities.