Palestinian released from Israeli prison ‘has returned from the dead’

Muazzaz Abayat’s parents barely recognized their son when he lay in a hospital bed after his release from nine months in Israeli custody. He weighed less than half his usual stocky stature, had sunken cheeks and shaggy hair.

“I have returned from the dead,” said the 37-year-old Palestinian AFP in a hospital in Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank.

Abayat, a butcher by profession, was arrested without explanation on October 26, just over two weeks after the Hamas attack on southern Israel that sparked the current war in the Gaza Strip.

He was held in a prison in the Naqab (Negev) desert, officially in what was known as administrative detention, meaning he could be held for long periods of time without charge or trial.

“They arrested me at home. Surrounded by fighters, there were no fighters there, but my children and my pregnant wife were there,” said Abayat, whose sixth child was born while he was in detention.

The number of Palestinians detained in the West Bank has skyrocketed since the war began on October 7, with regular use of administrative detention.

According to the Palestinian Prisoners Club, there are currently about 9,700 Palestinians in Israeli prisons, including hundreds in administrative detention.

The NGO estimates that the number of arrests has doubled since October 7 compared to the same period last year.

Since the start of the Gaza war, Israeli attacks on the territory have increased, with at least 572 Palestinians killed by Israeli troops or settlers, according to Palestinian authorities.

In a video that went viral on social media following Abayat’s release on Tuesday, he is seen limping and leaning on a man as he walks, while his right hand appears to be paralyzed.

“No one on earth can imagine what life was like there,” he said, calling the prison where he was held “the ‘Guantanamo of the Negev,'” after the U.S. prison in Cuba where prisoners were held after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

“We were wrongfully arrested, killed, brutally beaten with iron clubs and subjected to all kinds of torture,” Abayat added.

The Israeli prison administration said AFP They were not aware of Abayat’s allegations.

“All prisoners are detained in accordance with the law. All necessary basic rights are fully enforced by professionally trained prison guards,” said a spokesman for the Israel Prison Service (IPS). AFP.

“The prisoner was examined and given medical treatment by the best doctors of the IPS throughout his detention.” The spokesman said Abayat could file a complaint if he wanted.

Abayat showed his injured, bony legs, reported being beaten with clubs and chains, and said his whole body still hurts.

“They gave us 10 to 12 beans with pieces of cabbage and we had to survive on that from 7 a.m. until dinner,” he said, explaining his dramatic weight loss.

A “before and after” photo montage of Abayat shared online shows a muscular man with a shaved head and trimmed beard – a complete contrast to the long, tousled hair and messy beard of the man in the Bethlehem hospital.

“That’s enough to tell what happened to me,” he said of the photos.

His father, Khalil Abayat, told AFP that his son was “a man who weighed about 100 to 110 kilos (220 to 242 pounds) and was muscular.”

When Muazzaz stepped on the hospital scales on Wednesday, he weighed only 54 kilograms.

“When I saw Muazzaz, he was no longer the same Muazzaz my son was before his arrest,” said the father, shocked by the confusion his son seemed to be suffering from.

“He doesn’t recognize me, he is disoriented and his health is very poor.”

However, Khalil added that doctors are confident that Muazzaz’s condition will improve. The former prisoner has started eating more.

From his hospital bed, Muazzaz admitted that he had “forgotten things.”

However, he said that his time in Israeli custody was not yet completely over.

“I left a small prison to go to the big prison of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank,” he said.