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Today's Paper | May 10, 2026

Published 22 Feb, 2024 06:20pm

Injured Gaza man says Israeli troops beat him in latest mistreatment allegation

A Palestinian man being treated at a Gaza hospital for severe bruising on his face, cuts on his fingers and other injuries said Israeli soldiers beat him with chunks of masonry and chairs after bursting into his home on Feb 20.

The account by Ramadan Shamlakh, 22, which Reuters could not verify from another source, was the latest in a series of allegations of mistreatment of Palestinians by Israeli forces since Oct 7.

Filmed for Reuters by a freelance video journalist at Shuhada Al-Aqsa hospital in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza, Shamlakh had a bloodstained bandage wrapped around his head and another around his left arm.

His face was swollen and bloodied, and he could not open his right eye. He walked with a limp. He had a series of cuts on the back of the fingers of his right hand, which he said were made with a knife.

“He would lie me down on the ground and tell me not to move. He would get rocks, the broken ones from our balcony, and throw them at my legs,” Shamlakh said, describing his treatment by one of the soldiers.

“Whenever I would move, I would find his boot, kicking me here, kicking me there. I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t speak,” he said, adding that the soldier had also smashed up two chairs over him.

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