Released Palestinian boy speaks to Anadolu about hardships in Israeli prison

By Yazan Samra

ISTANBUL (AA) - Osama Nayef Osama Marmash, one of 39 Palestinians recently released by Israel as part of a swap deal during a four-day humanitarian pause in fighting with the Hamas group, spoke on Sunday about the suffering of Palestinians inside Israeli prisons.

Marmash, 16, who is from Nablus in the northern West Bank, said he was administratively detained five months ago.

“Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons learned about the swap deal on Friday, after the release of a number of people,” he told Anadolu.

“I woke up in the morning, washed my face and read the Qur’an before Israeli soldiers began to wander through the prisoners’ cells to choose the names of those released, as my name was among them,” he said.

"Since eight in the morning, we have been waiting in the cold until the Red Cross came and took us from Ofer Prison.

"Every week, they (the Israeli army) came to beat us, and they took all our clothes, bed coverings and mattresses."

He said the Israeli army gave every prisoner a very thin bed covering.

He pointed to a banner of the Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Palestinian group Hamas, that he was wearing around his neck because of the extreme cold.

Marmash recalled that the Israeli army once poured water on the prisoners despite the cold weather, stressing that the food allocated to the prisoners was very little.

"They gave us two bags of bread a day, and we were eight people," he said.

He saluted the Al-Qassam Brigades, adding: “May Allah have mercy on the martyrs and heal the wounded.”

A four-day humanitarian pause mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the US went into effect on Friday, temporarily halting Israel's attacks on the Gaza Strip.

Israel launched a massive military campaign in the Gaza Strip following an Oct. 7 cross-border attack by Hamas.

It has since killed at least 14,854 Palestinians, including 6,150 children and more than 4,000 women, according to health authorities in the enclave. The official Israeli death toll stands at 1,200.