Shocking before and after photos of Gaza teacher ‘tortured’ in Israeli jail

A severely malnourished Gazan teacher released by Israel says he was subjected to ‘indescribable’ torture while in captivity. Ibrahim Mohammad Al-Shawish was one of 183 prisoners released from Israeli jails on Saturday as part of the ceasefire deal. He was detained by IDF soldiers on December 10, 2023, around two months after the October 7 attacks by Hamas, and the retaliatory Israeli invasion of Gaza.

Shocking before and after photos of Ibrahim show the extreme amount of weight he lost during his time in jail. His previously full and healthy face now looks skeletal, with heavily sunken cheeks. Speaking from a hospital bed, the Palestinian said he was arrested at a displacement shelter in northern Gaza and initially held in barracks. ‘These barracks had forms of torture that were indescribable, indescribable, indescribable,’ he said in a video shared on X.

‘For 45 days I was blindfolded and on my knees, in the same posture one would pray to God Almighty. Blindfolded and shackled.’. Ibrahim, who comes from Beit Hanoun, in northern Gaza, said he was then taken to Al-Naqab Prison in the Negev in Israel, where he and other prisoners were tortured with electric shocks and dogs. It is not clear what charges Ibrahim was arrested on. Several other Palestinian prisoners, who were taken in buses to the West Bank and Gaza, were also in poor health.

They were released around the same time as three Israeli hostages who had been held captive by Hamas since the attacks on October 7 2023. Eli Sharabi, 52, Ohad ben Ami, 56, and Or Levy, 34, also looked painfully thin as they were led on stage by Hamas militants in central Gaza before being handed over to the Red Cross. They were later flown by the IDF to meet their families in Israel. The British family of Eli – whose wife and two teenage daughters were killed on October 7 – said they were overjoyed and relieved to see him freed, but concerned at his ‘sunken’ appearance.

His brother-in-law, Stephen Brisley, who lives in Bridgend, Wales, told the Guardian: ‘You can see the clothes are hanging off of him. You can see his face was gone. The spark and the light has gone from his eyes. His cheeks are sunken.’. ‘It’s a bittersweet day because we don’t know, other than the fact that he’s alive, exactly what state he’s in physically and mentally.’. Metro’s on Whatsapp! Join our community for breaking news and juicy stories.

Abdullah al-Zaghari, head of the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club, said seven of the prisoners freed on Saturday were taken to hospital and added: ‘All the prisoners who were released today are in need of medical care, treatment and examinations as a result of the brutality they were subjected to during the past months.’. In Ramallah in the West Bank, one prisoner was helped off the bus in the arms of a medic, while another held his oxygen bottle, reports AFP.

Despite the condition of many of the inmates, some of whom have never been formally charged or convicted, there were joyous reunions with loved ones. A crowd of hundreds were waiting for the Ramallah bus, with many waving Palestinian flags and wearing keffiyeh scarves. Stepping off the bus, the prisoners were greeted by cheers, claps and chants, before several embraced their families in tears. Earlier, Israeli military had said in a statement ‘that celebrations and processions in support of terrorism are prohibited during the release of the terrorists’.

A father of one of the released prisoners, Shadi Barghouti, said Israeli soldiers stormed his family home in the occupied West Bank village of Kobar, warning him not to celebrate his son’s release. ‘They entered after midnight, smashed everything, took me into a side room and beat me before leaving,’ Fakhri Barghouti said. ‘I was taken to the hospital, where they found that I had a broken rib.’.

When asked about about Barghouti’s allegations and the raid in Kobar village, the military said it was ‘not aware of such an incident involving violence during the forces’ activity in the area overnight as claimed’. Despite the warning, a jubilant crowd lifted Fakhri onto their shoulders after his son was released. The father shed tears of joy, but could also be seen grimacing in pain due to his injuries.

Shadi, 47, had been imprisoned since 2003 and was serving a 27-year sentence for weapons possession, membership in an illegal organisation and complicity in murder, according to Israel’s justice ministry. Speaking after his release, he said: ‘We always dreamed that this would happen, that one day the prison director would be forced to open the gates.’. In the crowd, Abbas al-Sharbati was waiting with relatives for his cousin Yasser al-Sharbati’s release.