‘How Israel’s arrest of me without charge has made me more resilient’

As an administrative detainee, I – like the rest of the 10,000 Palestinian political prisoners – experienced inhumane prison conditions designed to cause maximum suffering.

For over eight months, I was starved, humiliated, insulted and beaten by Israeli forces. I was held with 11 other detainees in a small concrete cell meant for five. It felt like we were being suffocated alive like we were being kept in a mass grave. It was hell on Earth.


_{Israeli soldiers standby near the Israeli military prison, Ofer, near Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on November 25, 2023}

On November 28, Israeli soldiers stopped my car at the Jaba checkpoint in the occupied West Bank and kidnapped me. I spent the following 253 days in detention without charge, without ever being told why this was happening to me.

That morning, I didn’t want to leave the house because my wife and my three-month-old son were suffering from the flu, but I could not postpone an English language exam I had to take as part of my application for an MA programme at a British university.

As I was making my way back, I called my wife to tell her that I was coming home and bringing food. I could hear the sound of my son crying in the background. His cries stayed in my head for the next eight months.

At the checkpoint, the Israeli soldiers took me out of the car, handcuffed me, blindfolded me and made me kneel for five hours inside a military camp. I was moved from camp to camp until I was eventually transferred to a detention centre in an illegal Jewish settlement in Hebron.

I was not permitted any contact with a lawyer or my family, despite my constant requests. It was only after two months of detention that I was finally able to speak with a lawyer and learned there were no charges against me. I was under administrative detention – a legal measure applied to the Palestinian population that allows the Israeli occupation forces to arbitrarily detain whoever they want.

This measure has been used heavily since October 7, 2023, as yet another means of collectively punishing Palestinians. As of this month, more than 3,300 Palestinians are still being held in Israeli prisons without trial or charges.


As an administrative detainee, I – like the rest of the 10,000 Palestinian political prisoners – experienced inhumane prison conditions designed to cause maximum suffering.

For over eight months, I was starved, humiliated, insulted and beaten by Israeli forces. I was held with 11 other detainees in a small concrete cell meant for five. It felt like we were being suffocated alive, like we were being kept in a mass grave. It was hell on Earth.

The guards would walk around with heavy protective gear, beating us regularly with sticks, hands and feet. They would unleash large police dogs to terrorise us. They would bang their batons nonstop on the metal bars of the cells or other metal objects, not giving us a moment of peace. They would insult us constantly, cursing the women in our lives, degrading our mothers, sisters, daughters and wives, and referring to the detainees as subhuman. They would also insult and degrade national symbols like Palestinian leaders, slogans and our flag, trying to degrade our very identity as Palestinians.

We had no privacy, except for the brief moment we were allowed to use the toilet and we were not permitted to shave for the first six months. The amount of food provided was less than what is necessary for an adult to stay alive. I lost more than 20 kilogrammes while in detention.


We were watching our bodies change, kept isolated from the world without even knowing why we were there. The only way we got any news was from the new detainees constantly being brought in. This isolation was part of the psychological torture.

If I could hardly recognise myself, how would I recognise my son when I get out, I wondered. I kept imagining him growing, meeting milestones without me being there to support him and hold him. I also worried for my elderly father, who was ill and who I had been caring for over the last few years. I kept wondering who was taking care of him when he had seizures, and whether he was being taken to his hospital appointments.

During the time I spent in Israeli prison, it became clear to me that the Israelis use detention to try to break us, so when they release us – if they ever do – we are a shell of who we were, humiliated and broken. The release of detainees who hardly look like themselves any more, starved and unshaven, suffering from physical illnesses and psychological disorders, is meant to serve as a message to the rest of the Palestinian population, to break their will, resilience, and hopes for liberation, a dignified life and a bright future.

But this sinister strategy is meeting resistance. Crowded into our concrete cells, we would still find something to smile about. Smiles were our weapon against the Israeli guards’ brutality. Hope was our shield.

Thinking of my baby boy gave me hope. I imagined reuniting with him and looking into his eyes.


When I was released and called my wife, and the camera was pointed at my son, I couldn’t control myself and tears began to flow. I kept repeating, “I am your baba, I am your baba.”

The moment I came home and saw my son was one of the most beautiful moments of my life. I embraced him and looked at him, examining his eyes, his mouth, his hair, his feet. I was trying to memorise every detail quickly, to correct the image I had created of him in my mind over the previous 253 days. He surpassed the most beautiful image I had drawn of him in my head.

Israel tried to break me and destroy my spirit, but I emerged from this difficult experience tougher and stronger. My imprisonment is a wound that will remain with me, but it will not halt my mission in life.


Before I was detained, I had been working as the executive director of Aida Youth Center for five years. This organisation has provided essential support to the residents of Aida refugee camp near Bethlehem for years. The children and youth have benefitted from our education programme and music and sports classes, while the community at large has received humanitarian and medical aid during crises.

Now I am back at the centre and as a parent and a community leader, I am more determined than ever to continue working with Palestinian children and youth to make sure they realise their potential and build a brighter future.

I know that the persecution of the Palestinian people, particularly our youth, aims to radicalise them, deprive them of their rights and hope for a dignified prosperous life.

I believe that working with young people, giving them guidance, encouraging them to develop themselves and to be active members of society can counter this brutal Israeli strategy and help build the Palestine that I dream of.

Having experienced the horrors of the occupation and now being a father of a one-year-old, who is making his first steps and speaking his first words, I am more determined than ever to make sure he has a better future. To make sure he never suffers the fate of Palestinian political prisoners being held by Israel just because of their Palestinian identity. To make sure that he has the opportunity to grow up hopeful, resilient and proud. That is what I will keep fighting for.

Protest in Israel blocks major road

Video posted on social media, and verified by Al Jazeera, shows demonstrators closing Ayalon Road in central Isreal, demanding the return of the captives still held in Gaza by Hamas and other groups.

The demonstrators can be seen burning tyres to block traffic, and police can be seen accosting at least one person in the road.

_{Fire blazes as families and supporters of the Israeli captives block a road, demanding their immediate release, in Tel Aviv, Israel, October 12}

Israeli army storms Shuafat refugee camp, occupied East Jerusalem

We are receiving reports of the Israeli army’s infantry forces storming the Shuafat refugee camp in occupied East Jerusalem.

We will get you more updates soon.

Meanwhile, for a little bit of context, the camp, combined with the nearby neighbourhoods of Anata, Ras Khamis, Ras Shhadeh and Dahiyat al-Salam, is home to about 130,000 Palestinians. Residents living there are fully encircled by Israel’s Separation Wall and have only two exit and entry points in the form of permanently staffed Israeli border police checkpoints.

UN investigation indicts Netanyahu, media’s silence baffling; here’s why! | Janta Ka Reporter



In an unprecedented development, an investigation by United Nations has indicted the Israeli regime headed by Benjamin Netanyahu for excesses in the occupied Palestinian Territories. Rifat Jawaid explains the significance of this report and mysterious silence of media.

A Year of Solidarity & Resistance: How Palestine is Changing the World



Layan Sima Fuleihan, the Education Director at The People’s Forum and an editor at 1804 Books, joins the show to reflect on the last year of the global movement for Palestine and how it has ignited the world against war and US empire. “People are waking up to the reality of what the US is doing to people across the world,” explains Layan, “there is no longer a status quo consent.”

Gaza Doc Wins Emmy Award Despite Hollywood Smear Campaign

Looks like another attempt to 'justify' continued attacks on Lebanon and Iran

Hamas tried to persuade Iran and Hezbollah to join October 7 attack on Israel, New York Times reports

Hamas plotted the October 7, 2023, terrorist attack on Israel for more than two years and tried to persuade Iran and Hezbollah to participate, a report in The New York Times has claimed, citing what it said were minutes of secret Hamas meetings found on a computer and seized by the Israeli military in Gaza in January.

According to the Times, whose claims have been vigorously denied by Iran and Hezbollah, Hamas had been avoiding major escalations with Israel since 2021 to lull its leaders into a false sense of security and initially planned to attack in the fall of 2022, but delayed its move as it tried to persuade Iran and Hezbollah to take part.

The Times cites the minutes as showing that a top Hamas official met senior Iranian commander Mohammed Said Izadi, who was based in Lebanon in July 2023, to request help striking sensitive Israeli sites, and Izadi is said to have responded that Iran and Hezbollah were supportive in principle, but needed more time to “prepare the environment.”

Iran’s Mission to the United Nations has denied the claims and suggested the minutes cited by the Times were fabricated.

In a statement to CNN, it said: “While Doha-stationed Hamas officials have themselves stated that they, too, had no prior knowledge of the operation and that all the planning, decision-making, and directing were solely executed by Hamas’s military wing based in Gaza, any claim attempting to link it to Iran or Hezbollah – either partially or wholly – is devoid of credence and comes from fabricated documents.”

A Hezbollah spokesperson told CNN on Saturday: “As the martyred secretary general of Hezbollah (Hassan Nasrallah) said, Hezbollah did not know about the toufan Al Aqsa operation executed by Hamas on the 7th of October.”

CNN has also reached out to Hamas and the Israeli military and Israeli prime minister’s office for comment. The Israeli military declined to comment to The New York Times, while neither Hamas nor Hezbollah responded to the newspaper’s requests for comment.



This is probably fabricated since this seems much more likely

Two and a half years later (after 2021 clashes), Sinwar authorized the start of Operation Al Aqsa Flood, the single deadliest attack inside Israel in history.

Hamas officials told me that for strategic reasons they timed the attacks to coincide with Shemini Atzeret, the final day of the Sukkot thanksgiving holiday, but more broadly to exploit mounting divisions within Israeli society and the deepening unpopularity of Netanyahu within Israel. On a tactical level, they engaged in extensive monitoring of the Israeli military facilities along what is referred to as the “Gaza envelope” and identified vulnerabilities in surveillance systems and perimeter defenses.

https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/on-the-record-with-hamas/

Netanyahu didn't come back into power until December 2022, so this notion they initially planned to attack in Fall 2022 doesn't make sense.
There was no lull in 2022 either, in fact it was the deadliest year since 2014

NY Times gladly posts Israeli propaganda without fact checking (and even manufactures their own fake evidence). And CNN dutifully repeats it. Spreading disinformation to manufacture consent for the ongoing war on Lebanon and the upcoming retaliatory attack on Iran.

Katz stands firm on Guterres ban despite widespread support for UN chief

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz says his decision to declare UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres “persona non grata” won’t change despite opposition from more than 100 UN member states.

In a joint letter, 104 nations said Guterres had their “full support and confidence” and that Katz’s decision harmed the UN’s “ability to carry out its mandate” and “could further delay an end to all hostilities and the establishment of a credible path towards the two-state solution”.

The statement had little effect on the Israeli top diplomat who said on X that Guterres had failed to “condemn the Iranian missile fire on Israel” and cited what he called the UN chief’s “anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli behavior”.

On October 1, Iran launched 180 ballistic missiles at Israel in response to the killing of prominent figures close to Tehran, including Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh and Hezbollah’s chief Hassan Nasrallah. Shortly after the attack, Guterres condemned the escalation of violence in the region but made no mention of Iran.

“Guterres can continue to try to collect signatures in support of him from members of the UN – the decision will not be changed,” Katz said.

He already condemned Iran back in April
https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/04/1148546
Indeed did not mention Iran specifically on Oct 1st
https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/10/1155231
He did the next day, but whatever. Israel doesn't like people who state the truth, any flimsy excuse will do to pull out the anti-semitism card.

The UN should revoke Israel's permanent seat at the UN, make them an observer like North Korea. Attacking, running a smear campaign and ousting UNWRA, attacking UNIFIL, barring UN members from entry, hampering UN aid agencies from doing their job, barring UN investigations.

But you need the security council for that

Article 6 of the Charter reads as follows: "A Member of the United Nations which has persistently violated the Principles contained in the present Charter may be expelled from the Organization by the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council."

And with US veto in play, no chance.

Kuwait condemns Israel’s attacks on UN peacekeepers

In a statement, the country’s foreign ministry calls Israel’s attacks on the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) “a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law and relevant Security Council resolutions, especially Resolution 1701”.

Over the last three days, the Israeli army has fired on UNIFIL positions and wounded its personnel a number of times, drawing widespread international condemnation.

“The Ministry stresses the importance of preserving the security and safety of United Nations personnel and employees and respecting the sanctity of its premises, expressing its wishes for a speedy recovery for the injured, and stressing the need for serious action to identify those responsible for these violations and ensure that they do not escape accountability”, Kuwait’s statement reads, calling for a ceasefire in Lebanon.

Qatar condemns Israel’s seizure of UNRWA HQ in occupied East Jerusalem

“The State of Qatar strongly condemned the Israeli occupation’s seizure of the headquarters of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in occupied East Jerusalem”, reads a statement from the country’s Foreign Ministry.

Two days ago, Israel announced the seizure of the land as well as plans to build an illegal settlement on it.

Israel’s “efforts to dismantle UNRWA are a link in a chain of reprehensible targeting of the United Nations itself”, Qatar’s statement continued.

The EU also recently condemned Israel for its attacks on the UN agency, saying it is “gravely concerned” about draft legislation that would ban UNRWA from operating in Israel and likely scale back aid distribution across war-ravaged Gaza.

Protesters in Ireland decry use of airspace to aid Israel’s war on Gaza


_{People block the road as they protest against US and Israeli military aircraft carrying weapons and flying over Irish airspace or landing to refuel, near Shannon airport in Ireland, October 12}

Austin expresses concern to Gallant over peacekeeper attacks

The US Defence Secretary expressed “deep concern” on a call with his Israeli counterpart over reports that Israeli forces fired on and injured two UN peacekeepers in Lebanon, as well as the killing of two Lebanese army soldiers.

“[Lloyd Austin] strongly emphasised [to Yoav Gallant] the importance of ensuring the safety and security of UNIFIL forces and Lebanese Armed Forces and reinforced the need to pivot from military operations in Lebanon to a diplomatic pathway as soon as feasible,” a US Defence Department statement said.

On the call, Austin also reaffirmed the US’s “unwavering, enduring, and ironclad commitment to Israel’s security”, the readout said.

We're concerned but don't worry, here's another cookie.

Eight wounded after Israeli strike on Lebanon’s Nabatieh

We have been reporting throughout the evening on an Israeli air strike hitting the main commercial market street of Nabaiteh, a major city in southern Lebanon.

Now, the country’s Health Ministry said at least eight people have been wounded there while rescue teams are still working to extinguish fires and remove the rubble that resulted from the strike.

Two people were injured in a separate Israeli air raid in Aitat, in the southern Tyre district, the ministry added.

The ministry added that four people were injured in Temnine, a village in the eastern Baalbek region as Israeli air strikes damaged three hospitals in the area. “For the third consecutive time today, the aggressive Israeli enemy has targeted the area surrounding the hospital,” an official from the Temnine General Hospital was quoted as saying by the Anadolu news agency.

The strikes “resulted in significant and severe damage to the hospital, in addition to injuring many patients present in the hospital due to flying glass and shrapnel”, Anadolu added.

Israeli army says 40 rockets fired from Lebanon

The military added that some of them were intercepted while the rest fell into open areas. This follows Israeli media reports on the activation of air raid sirens in the Upper Galilee region of Israel.

Air strikes in Lebanon south, east

We are getting reports of an Israeli air strike on the town of Aita al-Shaab in southern Lebanon.

In a separate attack, an Israeli salvo targeted the town of Younin in the eastern Bekaa region, according to an Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent.

‘Apocalyptic scenes’ as Israel bombs market area in south Lebanon’s Nabatieh

The last update we had was from the Lebanese Red Cross and they said they were battling against a big blaze trying to get into that marketplace in Nabatieh to see if there were any survivors and trying to pull out those injured.

They said they pulled out two casualties so far. They haven’t given an update since as to whether this huge blaze is still ongoing.

Many people have taken to social media. They’ve been sending videos of what almost seems like apocalyptic scenes. Entire streets destroyed. We just don’t know the extent of the damage yet. We will have to wait to see in the light of day.

But what’s important to say is that this only about five kilometres north of the Litani River. Israel’s intended aim from the beginning was to push Hezbollah up past the Litani River.

But they seem to be extending far beyond that now. We’ve seen the map of strikes taking place now, not just on the southern border where they have been fighting Hezbollah but really across the country. Even strikes in the centre of Beirut, where we are here.

_{A rescuer searches for survivors at the site of an Israeli air strike that targeted the southern Lebanese city of Nabatieh on October 12}

Five members of the same family killed in central Gaza

Gaza’s Civil Defence said it retrieved the bodies of five people from under the rubble of a house belonging to the Abu Dalal family in the Nuseirat refugee camp, located in the middle of the Strip.

That brings the total death toll from today’s Israeli air strikes across the enclave to at least 36.

At least 11 killed by Israeli attacks in north, central Gaza

In a roundup of recent Israeli attacks on Gaza, the Wafa news agency has said at least 11 people have been confirmed killed following strikes in the centre and north of the territory.

Seven people are confirmed dead following an Israeli strike on a family home in the Nuseirat refugee camp, Wafa reported, without specifying an exact location. Not long ago, we reported that at least five people had been killed in Nuseirat following a strike on the Abu Dalal family home.

An Israeli military attack in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza has also killed at least four people. Several people remain in critical condition, according to Wafa, with the number of casualties expected to rise.

Perseverance & creativity: Palestinians show resilience through innovation

Israeli forces raid Tal, occupied West Bank

Palestinian sources are reporting that the village, which is southwest of Nablus, has been stormed by Israeli forces, as the West Bank enters the early hours of Sunday morning. After entering the town, soldiers launched a large-scale search campaign targeting vehicles and shops.

According to local media, the soldiers fired tear gas and burned Palestinian flags hanging in the area.

Two Palestinians shot during Israeli raid near Jerusalem

Israeli forces have wounded two Palestinians during their storming of the town of al-Issawiya, northeast of occupied East Jerusalem, the Wafa news agency reports. One of the men has been described as being in “critical condition”, according to Wafa.

Israeli military operations have been reported elsewhere in the occupied West Bank in recent hours. They include:

People in Bekaa Valley live in fear as Israel bombs residential areas without warning

Israel has increased its bombardment of the Bekaa Valley. It’s hit the north, it’s hit central Bekaa and the south of Bekaa. Many towns and villages have been hit.

What we witnessed on Saturday was Israeli aircraft – two Israeli aircraft overhead in the skies – but also, we heard Israeli aircraft breaking the sound barrier and multiple reports of strikes taking place across Bekaa.

We have also witnessed people’s homes being hit in towns and villages across this region. In the middle of residential areas, Israel is striking people’s homes.

Israel says it is going after Hezbollah infrastructure and what it calls Hezbollah weapons depots. But it is very difficult to verify what Israel is aiming at.

Many people have no warning whatsoever. None of these so-called Israeli evacuation orders, which are essentially threats and warnings that if people don’t leave their homes and towns and villages, they will be bombed.

Many people have been displaced and those who remain live in fear because they hear the aircraft overhead. They hear the drones. And they are fearful because they don’t know what will be hit and when.


_{Lebanese army soldiers secure a site that was hit by Israeli jets in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley in March 2024}

UN official appeals for Israel to not attack Lebanon’s ports, international airport

Carl Skau, the deputy executive director of the UN World Food Programme, said he is concerned that Lebanon’s ports and international airport might be taken out of service amid Israel’s ongoing attacks, which would restrict the amount of food entering the country.

“What I have seen and heard today is devastating, but the sense is that this can get much worse still, and that needs to be avoided,” he told The Associated Press during a visit to Beirut. “We have huge concerns and there are many, but one of them is indeed that we need the ports and we need the supply routes to continue to be able to operate.”

Israeli authorities have given “commitments” that ports and airports would not be taken out of commission in Lebanon, Skau said, but he said Lebanon “is a very changing environment” and he doesn’t “take anything for granted”.

Earlier this week, Lebanon’s transport minister said the country had received “assurances” but not guarantees that Israel would not target its only international airport, located in the southern suburbs of Beirut.

Israel using Lebanon war as ‘cover’ to clear north Gaza of Palestinians: Analyst

Gideon Levy, a columnist with Israel’s Haaretz newspaper, told Al Jazeera the goal of the Israeli government appears to be to clear the north of Gaza of all Palestinians, and nothing can stop them with US support.

“Israel still ignores totally any kind of requests from the United States because, in the last year, Israel learned that those requests… are totally hollow because they are never followed by any kind of measures against Israel in terms of supply of arms or ammunition,” Levy told Al Jazeera.

“Therefore, Israel is free to do whatever it wants. And it can easily ignore condemnations from European countries,” Levy said.

“I really think that Israel wants to ‘clear’, so-called, the northern part of Gaza for good. And under the cover of the war in Lebanon and the danger from Iran, when the whole world is looking upon Lebanon and the strike on Iran – the possible strike by Israel – Israel is taking advantage of it and repeats doing those things in Gaza without having any military goals there,” he said.

“Israel by itself declared that, basically, Hamas as a military force is totally thrashed. So why does it continue? It continues because Israel would like to see the northern part of Gaza empty of all its Palestinian inhabitants and that’s the goal and nobody stops Israel,” he added.

UNIFIL-contributing countries release joint statement condemning Israeli attacks

The joint statement by 40 countries who contribute troops to the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), urged for a halt to attacks on peacekeepers in the country.

“As the countries contributors to the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon we reaffirm our full support for UNIFIL’s mission and activities,” said the statement, posted on X on Saturday.

“We therefore strongly condemn recent attacks on the UNIFIL peacekeepers. Such actions must stop immediately and should be adequately investigated.”

Over the last three days, the Israeli army has fired on UNIFIL positions and wounded its personnel several times, drawing widespread international condemnation.


_{Members of the UN peacekeepers (UNIFIL) monitor the Lebanon-Israel border, as they stand on the roof of a watch tower ‏in the town of Marwahin in southern Lebanon on October 12}

US, 40 countries tell Israel to end attacks on UN peacekeepers in Lebanon

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has been on the phone with his Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant.

Austin expressed ‘deep concern’ to Gallant over Israel’s continued attacks on UNIFIL, the UN’s peacekeeping forces in southern Lebanon, as well as over the deaths of two Lebanese armed forces soldiers, according to the Pentagon’s summary of their conversation.

Austin reinforced the need, according to the Pentagon, for Israel to cease its military activities in southern Lebanon and to “pivot”- as the statement put it – towards a diplomatic effort in the region as soon as is feasible.

Austin strongly emphasised the need for Israel to ensure the safety and security of peacekeeping forces, which Israeli army forces have been targeting in recent days and over the past weeks.

Separately, in another effort to apply pressure on Israel in this regard, 40 countries signed a letter to Israel. The 40 countries, which include France, Turkey, Indonesia, Ireland, China and the UK, are all participants in the UNIFIL force and they strongly condemned, according to the letter, continued Israeli army attacks on the peacekeeping forces in southern Lebanon and their bases.

As far as we know at this hour, there has been no response from Israel to these joint efforts to pressure it into conforming to international law with respect to not harming peacekeeping forces.

US mulls sending advanced THAAD missile defence to Israel: Report

US officials have told the Associated Press (AP) news agency that the Biden administration is considering the deployment of a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system to Israel.

No final decision has been made, one of two defence officials told the AP, though discussions took place late last week about deploying a THAAD to Israel. Deployment of a THAAD to Israel would involve the deployment of US soldiers to operate the complex system.

According to an April report by the US Congressional Research Service, the Army has seven THAAD batteries. Generally, each consists of six truck-mounted launchers, 48 interceptors, and radio and radar equipment. It requires 95 soldiers to operate.

The THAAD is considered a complimentary system to the Patriot missile defence, but it can defend a wider area, hitting targets at ranges of 150 to 200km (93 to 124 miles).

_{A Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) interceptor is launched from the Pacific Spaceport Complex in Alaska, the US, in 2017}