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November 25, 2025 – Palestine –
Shadi Abu Sido, a journalist from Gaza recently released after 20 months of detention by Israeli forces, has shared harrowing details of his time in custody. His account — first published on November 24, 2025 — reveals a prolonged period of physical and psychological torture beginning in March 2024, when Israeli forces raided Al‑Shifa Hospital and rounded up thousands of Palestinians, including journalists.
According to Abu Sido, what began as a detention escalated into what he later called “20 months of psychological warfare.” During his confinement, he suffered repeated beatings, insults, and severe neglect, leaving him with lasting internal injuries, including untreated damage to his eye. At one point, interrogators lied to him that his wife and children had been killed in a bombing — a psychological tactic meant to break him emotionally.
He described the detention centre at Sde Teiman detention camp as a place beyond comprehension, where detainees were denied sleep for days and subjected to brutal shackling, starvation, and deprivation. Abu Sido recalled how the guards physically abused him, leaving him chained and suspended, and mocked other prisoners—some of whom, according to his testimony, were even subjected to sexual violence.
When he was released on October 13, 2025, under the first phase of a ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel Defense Forces, Abu Sido reunited with his family — surprised to discover they had survived. Nevertheless, he continues to endure severe post-traumatic stress, plagued by flashbacks and emotional distress.
Despite the trauma, Abu Sido remains committed to his work. His first message upon release was a call to save those still detained — “my brothers who are being tortured day and night … robbed of food and sleep because of the psychological and physical torture,” he said.
His testimony confronts a brutal reality: detention facilities where journalists are held under indefinite, inhumane conditions; false accusations used as a weapon; and a deeply flawed system that dehumanises detainees. The story of Abu Sido sheds light on the urgent need for accountability, access to impartial investigations, and pressure from the international community to end such abuses.
Reference –
https://news.cgtn.com/news/2025-11-25/VHJhbnNjcmlwdDg3NTMy/index.html
