A liberated Palestinian prisoner narrates the horrors of torture in occupation prisons news

Freed prisoner Mahmoud Al-Arda described what is happening inside Israeli prisons as a “true disaster” and said that the past two years in captivity were “the harshest in the history of captivity since the British occupation,” stressing that Israel “committed what no previous global occupation has done.”

Al-Arida added – in an interview with Al-Jazeera – that what the occupation authorities revealed about the numbers of deaths inside prisons does not reflect the truth, saying, “Israel admitted to killing dozens, but we believe that hundreds or even thousands of Gazans were killed during investigation and field detention,” noting that the Israeli security services practice “all forms of brutal torture” to extract intelligence information related to the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) in Gaza.

The liberated prisoner – who was deported to Egypt – confirmed that all Palestinian prisoners are subjected to fatal beatings that are used as a method of systematic humiliation, and the occupation seeks to bring them out into the world in a state of physical and psychological weakness, just like the ones they experienced a few days ago in the prisoner exchange process.

The deported prisoner spoke about the nature of the harsh treatment he received in prison, noting that the repression units storm the cells weekly and beat the prisoners leading to death.

The liberated prisoner revealed that the leader of the Fatah movement, Marwan Barghouti, had broken 3 ribs, stressing that “what is happening to him happens to all the prisoners in Megiddo prison.”

He pointed out that what Jews were subjected to in Nazi camps was more merciful than what Jews do today, adding that if he had been in Europe in 1945, he would have been one of the first to defend them, but “today’s Jews have no connection to those who were persecuted at that time.”

Al-Arda explained that he was the least subjected to beatings and torture among the rest of the prisoners, despite the prison guards’ repeated attempts to kill him.

Moment of release

Regarding the moment of his release, Al-Arda said that he received the decision while he was in isolation in Raymond prison, “but I was shocked when I learned that I was the only one who was released, even though the news confirmed that the names of all those detained with him were included on the list,” describing this as “an intentional method to humiliate the prisoner and destroy him psychologically.”

He explained that he doubted the veracity of the news of his release, especially since the matter had previously happened to him in the first prisoner exchange deal at the beginning of the year when he was informed of his release and then he was transferred to a solitary confinement cell in Megiddo Prison to renew his detention. “So this time I dealt with the news with caution” until it was confirmed that he was being transferred to the Rafah crossing and the appearance of Egyptian buses.

February 2025 witnessed the implementation of the first phase of the prisoner exchange deal between Hamas and Israel, which included the release of 642 Palestinian prisoners, including 151 prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment. In addition to 445 citizens of Gaza who were arrested after October 7, 2023, and 46 female and child prisoners from Gaza.

Al-Aridah recounted the moment of his release, saying, “What worried me most was news that I heard by mistake about the infection of one of my sister Hoda’s children, but when I met her and her children, I realized that they were fine, so there was incomplete happiness in light of the absence of the rest of the prisoners inside the prisons, especially the tunnel prisoners, including Commander Yacoub Ghadi, who was terminally ill.”

The liberated prisoner said, “The truth about the Israeli occupation tanks running over the bodies of the martyrs will emerge after many years and perhaps decades.”

Al-Arda concluded his speech by emphasizing that what is happening in the prisons “will not be hidden for long,” considering that the occupation is trying to bury the truth inside the cells, but it will come out one day.

Escape from Gilboa

Speaking about his previous attempt 4 years ago to escape from Gilboa Prison, Al-Areda said that he was in solitary confinement at the time, explaining that the isolation prisons are divided into two parts: the first in Raymond Prison, and the second in Megiddo Prison, and each of them has different policies, but in the latter “there is a real slaughterhouse.”

The attempt to escape from Gilboa Prison was one of the most prominent events witnessed by Israeli prisons for Palestinian prisoners, as the incident occurred in September 2021, when 6 Palestinian prisoners were able to escape through a tunnel they dug in complete secrecy from their cell in the security section of Gilboa’s high-security prison.

Al-Arda says that the operation was planned with great care, and it took several months to prepare the tunnel, using simple tools as well as their knowledge of the behavior of the jailers and guard hours.

The escape of the freed prisoner revealed major weaknesses in security procedures in a prison that is considered one of the most stringent prisons, and sparked a major media and political uproar inside and outside Israel.

He also said that the Minister of Internal Security, Itamar Ben Gvir, personally supervised more than once the prison of Raymond, and revealed that the minister visited the cell of the Qassam leader Ibrahim Hamed and threatened to kill him about a week before the “model” left the prison.

Al-Arda added that he was transferred on one occasion to the observation room designated for mentally ill prisoners, where the jailers would “bring dogs on us and beat us until blood flowed,” in addition to direct and systematic starvation.