Ramallah, March 17, 2025—Israeli forces detained a 16-year-old Palestinian boy in Gaza last year and tortured him for more than a year until he was released at the end of February.
16-year-old Mustafa* was detained by Israeli forces from Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on January 24, 2024, where he was separated from his family at an Israeli military checkpoint established at the Abu Aboutrika stadium as they attempted to seek safety in the Al-Mawasi area, according to documentation collected by Defense for Children International - Palestine. Israeli forces stripped Mustafa of his clothes, tightly bound his hands and feet, and blindfolded him before at least three soldiers began interrogating him as they beat him and used a stun gun on his neck and shoulders. Mustafa was loaded into an Israeli military truck alongside about 150 other detainees, including children, which transferred him to Sde Teiman, an Israeli military base and detention camp in southern Israel. Two weeks later, Mustafa was transferred to Mejiddo prison in northern Israel, where he remained in detention until his release on February 28, 2025 as part of the truce agreement between Palestinian armed groups and the Israeli government.
“Israeli forces took Mustafa from his family, subjected him to brutal beatings and routine starvation, and isolated him from the outside world for more than a year,” said Ayed Abu Eqtaish, accountability program director at DCIP. “To this day, Israeli forces are detaining an unknown number of Palestinian children from Gaza who are being held in deplorable conditions and are treated with the utmost depravity by Israeli soldiers in violation of international law. Israeli forces must immediately release all Palestinian children in detention.”
“Since my release, I have been waking up in a state of fear every single day, haunted by memories of headcounts,” Mustafa told a DCIP field researcher in Gaza one week after his release. “Nightmares plague my sleep, and I find myself running at night to count, a reflex from the countless times I stood in line for headcounts during my detention. Being late meant punishment, and that fear lingers. To this day, restful sleep eludes me. During the day, I sometimes find myself involuntarily kneeling, a habit my parents have noticed, though I often remain unaware of. I continue to struggle with insomnia and skin issues, including scabies and other ailments I contracted while detained.”
15 days in Sde Teiman: “The soldiers found amusement in our plight”
“The soldiers subjected me and the other detainees to brutal beatings, causing blood to stream from my nose as they struck me with metal objects on my head and face, leaving my eyes swollen,” Mustafa told DCIP about the transfer to Sde Teiman. “Once we were forced to the ground, handcuffed and blindfolded, kneeling in submission, they unleashed dogs upon us and revved up a tank that charged toward me, halting just a meter away. At that moment, I recited the shahada repeatedly, fearing I might be crushed beneath the tank's tracks. The soldiers found amusement in our plight.”
During his first day at Sde Teiman, Mustafa said, “Food was scarce, and we were strictly prohibited from removing our blindfolds or shackles. Those who dared to disobey faced severe beatings from the soldiers. Eventually, a soldier handed me a single piece of greenish bread covered with mold, clearly old and unfit for consumption. Overwhelmed, I cried and then fell asleep, unaware of how I drifted off.”
Israeli soldiers continue to beat and interrogate Mustafa at Sde Teiman and subjected all detainees to deplorable treatment and conditions, including forcing detainees to wear blindfolds and hand ties at all times, as well as constantly kneel.
“I found myself resting on an incredibly thin mattress, nearly devoid of any cushioning, accompanied by a cover that was frayed and as flimsy as an old sheet, exuding a foul odor,” Mustafa told DCIP. “This inadequate sheet barely managed to cover half of my body. In stark contrast, the dog in our vicinity had a superior blanket and mattress.”
“Each morning, when breakfast arrived, we were required to keep our heads lowered, receiving our meals in a submissive posture. The breakfast offerings were dismal—a rotten tomato meant to be shared among four people, or perhaps a cucumber if that was what was available, along with two loaves of bread and a tiny portion of jam. Lunch was no better, consisting of just two small loaves of bread and a meager piece of tuna, while dinner offered only a small loaf of bread and a sliver of cheese. As we began to feel faint upon standing, we collectively petitioned for a change in our food rations, only to have the cheese replaced with an even smaller portion of jam.”
“Each person in our group of ten was given a single-liter bottle of water, but the water was far from clean,” Mustafa said. “Its murky, white appearance revealed tiny creatures swimming within it, visible to the naked eye. We had no choice but to drink it, as there was no alternative.
“We were not allowed to change our sitting positions; we had to stay handcuffed and kneeling,” Mustafa continued. “At night, I managed only three hours of sleep, which felt like a luxury, as the soldiers relentlessly pounded on the metal panels, disturbing any chance of rest. If they were not banging on the metal panels, the biting cold would rouse me from my slumber.”
“When I needed to use the bathroom, my request would go unanswered for three long hours, until a soldier finally decided to ask others to unlock the door,” Mustafa told DCIP. “Once granted access, I struggled to relieve myself after holding my urine for so long, which led to painful infections. Personal hygiene was nearly impossible ,as any request for help was met with severe beatings from the soldiers. I endured this torment for 15 days, all while facing frigid temperatures and heavy rain, which left my body bruised and blue from the cold.”
13 months in Megiddo prison: “They would unleash dogs on us”
Israeli forces transferred Mustafa to Mejiddo prison, located in northern Israel, on February 8, 2024, where he was interrogated and placed in solitary confinement in order to coerce a confession. Mustafa was eventually placed in a cell with 14 other child detainees, including other children from Gaza.
“I never thought I would one day leave Megiddo prison,” Mustafa told DCIP. “Any sign of exhaustion could lead to severe consequences. If we failed to sit properly, stood up, or even glanced at the jailer in a way they deemed inappropriate, the soldiers would respond with brutal beatings. There were times when they would unleash dogs on us, tying our hands and allowing the animals to attack mercilessly. The soldiers would hurl curses and insults at us in both Arabic and Hebrew, treating us with unimaginable cruelty.”
Mustafa and other detainees were exhausted in part because Israeli prison guards routinely fed them very little food.
“Our meals consisted of a meager three spoons of rice throughout the day, occasionally increasing to five spoons,” Mustafa recalled. “Mornings brought us labneh and a small loaf of bread. Dinner was similarly sparse, offering either three spoons of rice or a spoon of hummus with another small loaf of bread. This limited diet led to prolonged constipation, and at times, we avoided eating to prevent further discomfort. During this period, I began to develop pimples and fungal infections all over my body. Despite my pleas for medical assistance, I received no help and was met with severe beatings instead.”
The conditions in Israeli prisons have deteriorated rapidly since October 7 as Israeli forces crowd Palestinian children into cells, serve rotten food, carry out regular crackdowns and beatings, deprive children of family visits, and prevent children from speaking to lawyers, according to documentation collected by DCIP.
Mustafa was released from Megiddo prison on February 28, 2025, as part of the truce agreement between Palestinian armed groups and the Israeli government. Now, he is back in Gaza with his family, facing an uncertain and difficult future as Palestinians attempt to rebuild their lives under siege.
25 Palestinian children from Gaza were detained in Israeli prisons as of December 31, 2024, according to the latest data available from the Israel Prison Service, which is closely monitored by DCIP. This data does not include children held at Sde Teiman detention camp or other Israeli military installations not administered by the Israel Prison Service. The number of Palestinian children detained at Sde Teiman is unknown.
Whether they are civilians or combatants, Israel is detaining Palestinians, including children, from Gaza under Israel’s 2002 "Unlawful Combatants Law." This Israeli civil law permits the state to detain as claimed “enemy fighters” for extended periods of time without following the standard legal procedures, and to hold them without granting them the status of prisoners of war. Therefore, for those imprisoned under this law, a detention order may only be issued within 45 days following their arrest. Furthermore, the law permits Israeli authorities to forbid detainees from meeting with a lawyer and postpone judicial review for up to 75 days, or up to six months with a judge's approval.a
Transfer of Palestinian detainees, including children, to prisons and interrogation and detention facilities inside Israel, even for brief periods, constitutes an unlawful transfer in violation of Article 76 of the Fourth Geneva Convention and constitutes a war crime in violation of Article 8(2)(b)(viii) of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
According to the 2006 International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, the “enforced disappearance” is considered “to be the arrest, detention, abduction or any other form of deprivation of liberty ... followed by a refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of liberty or by concealment of the fate or whereabouts of the disappeared person ...” and actions that resemble forced disappearance are considered international crimes punishable by law, depending on its extreme seriousness.
According to the Convention, forced disappearance qualifies as a crime that rises to “crimes against humanity” if it is carried out extensively or systematically on a large scale, which is exactly what the Israeli army forces are practicing by penetrating in all areas of the Gaza Strip, where they have arrested hundreds, and continue to held many of them in Israeli military prisons, along with thousands of Palestinian people whose fate is still unknown.
The enforced disappearance of Palestinian children in Gaza is a serious breach of international law. The Israeli practice of forcibly disappearing against the Palestinian children is prohibited under the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, which Israel has not ratified, but is still bound by customary international law. However, Israel has ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which forbids the ill-treatment and torture of children, and instructs that deprivation of liberty should only be used as a last resort.
*Mustafa is a pseudonym used in order to protect the child’s safety and privacy. His full name is known to DCIP.
