The British Middle East Eye website quoted a resident of Gaza City as saying that Israeli soldiers tied him up and tied explosives to him before forcing him to enter a tunnel suspected of being used by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas).
Hakim, 30, told the website that he was among the Palestinians who were seen stripped of their clothes and tied up after being arrested by Israeli soldiers who used him as a human shield while searching for Hamas fighters underground.
The Palestinian, who wished to reveal his identity by his first name only, said that he is one of dozens of men who were seen in photos and videos being restrained and stripped naked by Israeli forces.
Camera on his head
Hakim remembers that one of the soldiers told him that he wanted to take him to the Hamas tunnel, adding: “He made me wear a belt full of explosives, and put a GoPro camera on my head with a rope around my waist.”
Hakim went on to say that he was then pushed into the tunnel and ordered to explore it to see if there were any fighters inside.
He said: “They were ready to blow up the tunnel using my body if the camera on my head showed any fighters inside. I was 100% sure that I would be killed at that moment, but they took me out of the tunnel when they did not find anything inside.”
According to Hakim, a 15-year-old boy was subjected to the same treatment, and he said that the boy who was detained with him survived and was released after 3 days.
There are still others in captivity
Although Hakim has been released, his brother and other relatives remain in Israeli captivity.
“We were left without food for several days. We had water to drink sometimes and they insulted us with the worst words one can think of,” says Hakim.
Israel published footage of dozens of half-naked Palestinian prisoners held in the dirt a week ago, claiming that they were Hamas fighters surrendering.
Hakim said that neither he nor any of his relatives who were detained were related to any of the armed groups in Gaza, adding that they detained him in the school courtyard in the cold.