[News] Palestinian surgeon survives Sde Teiman and Ofer Prison

[Anti-Imperialist News]

electronicintifada.net
<https://electronicintifada.net/content/palestinian-surgeon-survives-sde-teiman-and-ofer-prison/49806>
Palestinian surgeon survives Sde Teiman and Ofer Prison
Fedaa al-Qedra
7–8 minutes
------------------------------

Dr. Khaled Al Serr
Courtesy of Khaled Al Serr

Dr. Khaled Al Serr, a surgeon at the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis,
recently endured six months as a prisoner in the Israeli military court
system. Prior to his seizure, he was in the midst of doing what he could to
help during one of the worst humanitarian crises Gaza has ever seen.

“From the moment the war started, I did everything I could to help my
people,” Al Serr recalled during an interview in early October. “I couldn’t
think about my own safety when so many of my countrymen needed help.”

But in late March, Israeli forces stormed
<https://www.wafa.ps/pages/details/92577> Nasser Medical Complex for the
second time during this ongoing genocide. Soldiers forced medical staff,
including Al Serr, to evacuate.

Buzzing overhead, drones issued commands to leave the building. Despite
wearing his white doctor’s coat and a stethoscope around his neck, clearly
identifying him as a medical professional, Al Serr was detained
<https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde15/8136/2024/en/>.

“They made us strip our clothes and tied our hands and blindfolded us,” he
told The Electronic Intifada. “It was humiliating, but worse than that,
they treated us like criminals. We were just doctors trying to save lives.”
Enduring brutal conditions

The soldiers then took Al Serr and the others to a nearby house, which had
been turned into a military command center. There, he said, he and his
colleagues endured five days of detention under brutal conditions.

“They didn’t give us any food for the first four days,” Al Serr said, “and
on the fourth day (in the evening), they brought us a small piece of bread
and some cheese, barely enough to stay alive.”

Throughout the ordeal, the hands of the medical professionals remained
tied, their eyes blindfolded, as they were subjected to aggressive
interrogations and violent treatment, he recalled.

After five days of torment, they were thrown into military jeeps, crammed
together like sacks of vegetables.

“They piled us on top of each other,” Al Serr said. “We were treated worse
than animals, and the soldiers sat on us, mocking and beating us the entire
way to the detention facility at Sde Teiman” in the Negev desert.

The Sde Teiman detention facility, notorious for its brutal treatment of
detainees, became
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/tamara-nassar/inside-one-israeli-death-and-torture-camp>
Al Serr’s new prison. He described how the prisoners were not only
dehumanized but subjected to continuous physical and psychological abuse.

“They tied our hands and blindfolded us. We were not allowed to move, speak
or even look sideways. Any small movement resulted in savage beatings,” Al
Serr said.

One of the most harrowing aspects of the imprisonment was the sexual abuse
and the use of excessive force against the prisoners, he said.

“They would beat us mercilessly, targeting sensitive areas of our bodies
with truncheons,” Al Serr recounted. “They even assaulted us sexually,
using any means they could to degrade and humiliate us. They sprayed pepper
spray on our private parts. It was unspeakable.”

The treatment was a calculated attempt to break the prisoners, physically
and mentally.

“I saw them torture an elderly man just because he was moving his lips,
reciting the Quran,” Al Serr said.

Dr. Khaled Al Serr, upon his release from Ofer Prison, embraces his father.

The cruelty extended beyond physical pain, he pointed out.

The prisoners were only allowed to bathe once a week, and even then, the
clothes given to them had been spat on by soldiers. “We had two minutes to
shower, and after we were done, we had to wear filthy clothes they had
wiped their feet on,” Al Serr added.

Living conditions in Sde Teiman were squalid, with the facility infested by
insects and rats.

The detainees were forced to sleep on thin mats over rough concrete floors.

“The cold was unbearable, and we had no blankets to protect us,” Al Serr
said. “I lost 40 kilograms [88 pounds] in those few months, barely
surviving on a piece of toast and a small serving of jam or cheese every
day. It wasn’t enough to sustain a person.”

The prisoners were frequently beaten, especially those who defied the
guards’ arbitrary and oppressive rules.

“When the guards felt like it, they would storm the cell and demand that we
lie face down with our heads to the ground. Those who disobeyed were beaten
with truncheons,” Al Serr said. “Some prisoners told me they were beaten on
their private parts with truncheons and electrocuted. They used any method
they could to torment us.”
Moved to Ofer Prison

Amid international outcry over the abuse
<https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/10/middleeast/israel-sde-teiman-detention-whistleblowers-intl-cmd/index.html>
at Sde Teiman, some prisoners, including Al Serr, were moved
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/renowned-gaza-surgeon-killed-israeli-detention>
to Ofer Prison in the occupied West Bank. Al Serr was transferred to Ofer
Prison in June.

Though the conditions there were slightly better, the psychological and
physical abuse continued. Amnesty International reported
<https://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent-actions/urgent-action-release-palestinian-surgeon-dr-khaled-al-serr-iopt-second-ua-53-24/>
he was held there “without charges or trial under the abusive Unlawful
Combatants Law.”

“In Ofer, the beatings were less frequent, but the humiliation never
stopped,” Al Serr said. “They didn’t give us proper medical care. I had
internal bleeding and wasn’t seen by a doctor for over a month.”

Al Serr said that when he was finally given medication, it arrived 10 days
after his hospital visit. The lack of food and medical treatment in Ofer
Prison mirrored the dire conditions at Sde Teiman.

After arriving at Ofer Prison, Al Serr and his colleagues were sentenced by
a military court.

“It was a sham trial conducted over the phone,” he recalled. “We didn’t
even know the charges against us. They labeled us ‘illegal combatants,’
captured during the war, and we were given arbitrary sentences until the
end of the conflict.”
Worries about family, being released

What weighed most heavily on Al Serr during his imprisonment was the
uncertainty surrounding his family. “I was constantly worried about them,
especially since they had been displaced during the war. I heard rumors of
military operations near Rafah, where they were staying, and I feared the
worst,” he said.

Upon his unexpected release
<https://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent-actions/urgent-action-release-palestinian-surgeon-dr-khaled-al-serr-iopt-second-ua-53-24/>
on 30 September, likely because he was not considered a threat, Al Serr
returned to work determined to continue serving his people despite the
trauma he had endured. But when he reunited with his family, they were
living in the ruins of their house in Khan Younis.

“We are strong and resilient people,” he said, reflecting on his
experience. “This isn’t the end; it’s a testament.”

*Fedaa al-Qedra is a journalist in Gaza.*
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