RAMALLAH, Palestine

Freed Palestinian prisoners revealed Saturday that Israeli forces violently attacked them because they refused to recite verses from the Torah.

Jamal Al-Tawil said he was violently attacked hours before his release because he refused to recite a verse that included a threat to Palestinians.​​​​​​​

The prominent Hamas leader from Ramallah was repeatedly arrested by Israel starting at the age of 16, with more than 18 years spent in detention. He faced exile to Marj al-Zuhur in 1992 and led a hunger strike in 2021 to demand the release of his daughter, journalist Bushra

In a video, while receiving treatment at a hospital in the West Bank, Al-Tawil, 61, explained that Israeli soldiers demanded he recite a verse that said: “The eternal people do not forget, I chase my enemies and catch them, and I do not return until I annihilate them.”

When he refused, the soldiers severely beat him, which led to a deterioration in his health to the point he could not stand when he left to go to the International Red Cross bus.

The situation forced a Red Crescent team to carry Al-Tawil to an ambulance and transfer him to the hospital.

Threat and harsh conditions

Mohammed Dweikat, another freed Palestinian prisoner, said Israeli authorities forced prisoners to recite verses from the Torah in a clear act of intimidation and threat.

Dweikat told Anadolu after his release in the fifth batch of a prisoner exchange agreement between Israel and Hamas, “Praise be to God who gave us life after He had caused our death.”

“Today is our new birth after we were in death; thank God who granted us Gaza,” said Dweikat.

He spent 16 and a half years in Israeli prisons, after being sentenced to 18 years.

Regarding the conditions in prisons, he said: “The situation turned into hell after Oct. 7, 2023. Everything one could imagine, we experienced in prison -- harsh life, humiliation, lack of food and medicine, everything was bad.”

“In the last days, things became more difficult. We were subjected to pressure and humiliation, and the occupation forces, under threats and insults, forced us to recite Torah verses such as ‘We will not forget you, we are with you, and we will watch over you forever,’” he said.

Dweikat pointed to his hand where he was forced to wear wristbands with the same verse written in Arabic.

“Freed leader Jamal Al-Tawil refused to recite the verse, and they brutally beat him, which led to him being transferred to the hospital as soon as we left the detention center,” he said. “They do not respect the elderly or anyone.”

“What brought the most joy to our hearts was the popular reception, which shows the unity of the Palestinian people around the prisoners and resistance,” he said about his reception when he was released.

Regarding Gaza, he said: “No words can do justice to Gaza, which sacrificed everything -- its children, its elderly and its homes -- for the cause.”

The freed detainees were welcomed by thousands who gathered in the West Bank and Gaza, according to an Anadolu reporter.

Israel was set to free 183 prisoners Saturday in a swap for three Israeli captives released by Hamas early in the day.

Sixteen Israeli captives and five Thai workers have been released under the ceasefire in return for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.

The ceasefire agreement took effect on Jan. 19, halting Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza, which has killed more than 47,500 Palestinians, most of them women and children, and left the enclave in ruins.

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants in November for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.