I was awake at around 3:00 a.m. when I noticed that Israeli soldiers were in our neighbourhood. I got up and checked our front door and made sure it was locked. Shortly afterwards there was loud banging at the door downstairs. My father looked out the window and asked the soldiers what they wanted. The soldiers were rude to my father and told him to go back into the house and did not answer his question. 

 

My father then went downstairs and opened the door. About 20 masked soldiers rushed into our house with many more remaining outside on the street. The soldiers brought two service dogs into our house with them. My mother and younger siblings were scared. One of the soldiers asked me for my name. He then told me I was under arrest. I asked to be allowed to put my clothes and shoes on but they refused. I was still in my shorts and slippers.

 

A soldier handcuffed me behind my back and tightened the handcuffs. I was in pain. Then he blindfolded me and took me outside in my shorts and slippers and undershirt. The soldiers did not give my family any documents and did not say why they were arresting me. I asked a soldier to allow me to say goodbye to my mother but he refused.

 

The soldiers took me downstairs and then the soldiers went back to the house to look for my phone. They searched my room and broke the wardrobe and the shelves. They took my phone and never gave it back to me.

 

Once outside the soldiers led me on foot to the military watchtower at Rachel’s Tomb. On the way the soldiers slapped and kicked me. One of them hit me on my head and caused me a lot of pain. They beat me so hard that I became numb and did not feel the pain any more. I was left at the watchtower until around 6:00 a.m. when a soldier told me they were going to take me to Atarot police station in East Jerusalem for interrogation.

 

At Atarot I was left in an outdoor cage until around 4:00 p.m. I was not given anything to eat or drink and I was exhausted. Then a soldier removed the blindfold and shackled my feet and then took me to an interrogation room.

 

A female interrogator was in the room. She was dressed in civilian clothes. She phoned a lawyer for me and allowed me to speak to him. He told me I was going to be questioned and there was nothing to be scared of. When I told him I did not even know what I was going to be interrogated about he told me to remain silent. The call was short and the interrogator was listening on speaker phone. 

 

The interrogator accused me of throwing stones at Rachel’s Tomb on 13 October 2022. She did not inform me of my right to silence. I told her I had already been prosecuted for that incident and that I had spent time in prison. She did not believe me. Then she asked me whether I denied having thrown stones I told her I denied it. Then she claimed she had my fingerprints as evidence. I told her this was from me previous detention. Still she did not believe me. I told her to ask my lawyer and I gave her his name.

 

At one point I was taken out of the interrogation room for a short while and then brought back in again. The interrogator repeated the accusation and insisted I had not been punished for it yet. She questioned me for about four hours. I was not asked to sign any documents. 

 

After being interrogated I was taken to Ofer prison, near Jerusalem. I was strip searched before being taken to the minors’ section. 

 

The following day I had a military court hearing. My lawyer told me my file was clean and promised to send me home. But the military judge extended my detention for six days. My parents did not attend the first hearing because they were not told about it. 

 

I had three military court hearings. At the last one, which was on the day of my release, the military judge decided to release me on bail. He told me I had been prosecuted for throwing stones on the 14^th, 16^th, 19^th and 22^nd of October 2022, but not for throwing stones on the 13^th October. The military judge told me it was a lawyer’s mistake that he did not include the 13^th in the plea bargain because he did not study my file carefully. My parents had to pay NIS 7,500 in bail and another NIS 50,000 bond to be paid if I failed to show up for court.  The military judge also transferred my suspended sentence I had from my previous detention. He gave me six months in prison suspended for five years.

 

I was released on 9 August 2023, at around 6:00 p.m. and I went home with my father. I arrived home at midnight. I was very tired and went straight to bed, I did not even have dinner. I was supposed to have a military court hearing on 10 October 2023, but then the war started on 7 October and everything went into lock down. 

 

Before the war I used to work at a restaurant, washing dishes and cleaning up. I lost my job after the war because there were not enough customers and business was not good.