DUBAI: Palestinian author Nasser Abu Srour, who was released last month after 32 years in captivity, said torture and brutality inside Israeli prisons had intensified in the past two years, turning detention centers into “another front” of the conflict in Gaza.
Abu Srour was among more than 150 Palestinians serving life sentences who were freed under a US-brokered Gaza ceasefire deal. He was exiled to Egypt, where he was placed in a five-star hotel in Cairo — a jarring contrast, he said, to the conditions he endured during imprisonment.
After Oct. 7, 2023, beatings and deprivation of food and warmth increased in prisons. Even the guards’ uniforms were replaced with ones bearing tags that read “fighters” or “warriors,” he said.
Abu Srour added: “They started acting like they were in a war, and this was another front, and they started beating, torturing, killing like warriors.”
He described how areas without security cameras became “places for brutality,” where guards would tie prisoners’ hands behind their heads, throw them to the ground, and trample on them.
