Muhammad Abu Ramileh, 20, from the Jaber neighborhood in central Hebron, was attacked by soldiers on 17 May 2024 together with Muhammad ‘Aref Jaber

I live in the Jaber neighborhood in Hebron City Center with my parents, Ziad, 58, and Najah, 55, and my three brothers, ‘Abed, 27, Islam, 24, and Tareq, 18. I finished the auto electrical program at Palestine Polytechnic University in 2023, and I’m unemployed now because of the war in Gaza and the job shortage.

A military jeep came and some soldiers got out. They tied our hands from behind with zip ties, tightened them, and blindfolded us using garbage bags

I live in an area that’s surrounded by checkpoints and almost completely sealed off, about 150 meters away from the Jaber checkpoint that was installed on Worshippers’ Route, which connects the settlement of Kiryat Arba and al-Haram al-Ibrahimi (Tomb of the Patriarchs) and a-Shuhada Street. Even before the war, only residents of the neighborhood were allowed entry. Our friends and relatives can’t visit us here. On Fridays, Saturdays and Jewish holidays, the area is completely closed and we’re not allowed out of the neighborhood, even for medical treatment. Ever since the war started on October 7, the hours of operation at the checkpoint have been cut back, and sometimes, everything goes by whatever mood the soldiers are in. Lately, the checkpoint has been open from 7:00 A.M. to 7:00 P.M. Any other time, the soldiers chase anyone who dares pass by on the street. We make sure to come home earlier to avoid contact with them. The soldiers detain people without distinction – men, women, children, the elderly – and abuse some of them.

On Friday, 17 May 2024, at around 11:00 P.M., I invited some friends from the neighborhood over for coffee, to pass the time while the area is closed, because we can’t get out of here and do other things. Some friends and neighbors came over, including my friend Muhammad ‘Aref Jaber and my brother Tareq. We sat in the yard, talking and laughing, and my mother made us coffee.

Two soldiers started slapping me on the neck and punching me in the chest

Suddenly, a soldier came into our yard, and without saying a word, pointed his gun at us. He looked at us and then gestured for my friend Muhammad to approach him. Muhammad obeyed. Then, the soldier looked at me and ordered me to come to him too. I also obeyed. When we got closer to him, he ordered us to hold hands and walk in front of him. I grabbed Muhammad’s hand and we walked in front of the soldier as he held his gun pointed at us, pressing it against my back from time to time. We got to the Jaber checkpoint, and the soldier ordered us to sit on the ground. We obeyed. Then he took our phones and ordered us to unlock them. We did that too. He started snooping around in our phones.

After about 40 minutes, a military jeep came and some soldiers got out. They tied our hands from behind with zip ties, tightened them, and blindfolded us using garbage bags. I could see a little underneath the blindfold, and I saw them put Muhammad in the jeep, which drove away. After about 15 minutes, the jeep came back and the soldiers dragged me towards it violently, while swearing, and put me on the seat. Soldiers sat down on either side of me.

They forced me to repeat swearwords humiliating my mother, to curse Allah [...] I could hear the clicks of a camera flash and realized they were taking pictures of me

Before the jeep started moving, the two soldiers started slapping me on the neck and punching me in the chest, while swearing at me. They forced me to repeat swearwords humiliating my mother such as “I’m a son of a whore and a whore”, to curse Allah, Sinwar and Hamas, and to repeat the phrase “Am Yisrael Chai” [“the people of Israel live”]. I could hear the clicks of a camera flash and realized they were taking pictures of me. The ride took about five minutes.

The jeep stopped near an army base in the Wadi al-Hasin neighborhood, next to the southern gate of Kiryat Arba. The soldiers dragged me violently out of the jeep and tried to knock me down, but I managed to land on my feet. They took me into a military tower and led me up its spiral staircase. There were a lot of stairs and on the way up, I fell and got up a few times. We got up to the room, where I heard Muhammad screaming. He must have been beaten.

From the moment I walked into the room, I got slapped and punched. The soldiers made me kneel. I heard lots of voices and felt that there were a lot of soldiers in the room. My wrists hurt badly because of the tight zip ties. I asked the soldiers to loosen them, and then I got slapped and punched some more, and they swore at me. The soldiers sang songs in Hebrew loudly, shouting, as they beat and slapped Muhammad and me. They also forced us to sing songs glorifying Israel, chant “Am Yisrael Chai,” and curse Hamas and Sinwar. They spoke and talked loudly and made fun of us. They acted like drunk people and kept cocking their weapons. I was afraid they’d shoot us.

They acted like drunk people and kept cocking their weapons. I was afraid they’d shoot us [...] when it went quiet, the soldiers would suddenly bang on the metal wall and laugh at us when we got startled by the noise

After I kneeled there for about four hours, getting beaten, I started getting cramps in my legs, and pins and needles and sharp pain in my arms and wrists. I also felt pressure in my chest and I had trouble breathing. I told the soldiers I was having a hard time breathing, and their response was to slap me more, kick me, and tell me to shut up. Every once in a while, when it went quiet, the soldiers would suddenly bang on the metal wall and laugh at us when we got startled by the noise.

It went on like that until about 4:00 A.M., and then the soldiers led us, violently, down the tower stairs. Because we’d been kneeling for so many hours, we could barely stand or walk, and I fell down the stairs a few times. The soldiers got me up forcefully, while swearing. It went on like that until we got out of the military tower. The soldiers cut the knot holding the zip ties together, but left them tight on our wrists. They forbade us from taking off the blindfold and threatened to shoot us if we did. They told us to get out of there, without giving us back our phones.

We started heading towards our houses, and then one of the soldiers followed us and gave us our phones back. We walked on Wadi a-Nsarah St., which was completely empty, feeling our way around and peeking underneath the blindfold. We didn’t dare take it off yet.

Muhammad made it home first. His house is about 150 meters away from the tower. That’s where I took off the blindfold and kept walking to my house, with my whole body hurting a lot. At home, my brother Tareq cut my zip ties with a knife and took them off. They left clear marks on my wrists. I think the soldiers detained us and attacked us just for fun.

Testimony of Muhammad 'Aref Jaber

* Testimony collected by B’Tselem field researcher Manal al-Ja’bari on 19 May 2024