A photo published by the Israeli army of the elderly Palestinian woman, Umm Muhammad, with traces of shackles on her hands (Source: Israel Defense Forces)

The elderly Palestinian woman, Umm Muhammad Musmah, feels her wrinkled hands, which show signs of being shackled during her arrest by the Israeli occupation army last January, complaining that the Israeli forces beat and shackled her, contrary to their claim to provide her with medical care.

In the European Gaza Hospital in the city of Khan Yunis, south of the Gaza Strip, Umm Muhammad is receiving treatment for health complications after spending several days in detention by the occupation army, handcuffed.

During the period of detention, the elderly Palestinian woman - whose face was marked with wrinkles and signs of aging - was seriously trying to loosen her chains, in light of the cold weather outdoors, but her efforts failed.

Regarding her harsh experience in the hands of the occupation army, Umm Muhammad told Anadolu Agency, “I was arrested with many citizens from the Ma’an area, east of the city of Khan Yunis, and my hands were tied, while the weather was very cold. I tried to untie my chains, but to no avail. I remained without food.” “And I was beaten during the arrest.”

The elderly Palestinian woman does not remember the exact day of her arrest, nor the exact number of days she was detained, as the period ranged between 11 and 12 days, according to her speech.

On January 26, the Israeli occupation army published a video clip on the “X” platform containing pictures of the elderly Palestinian woman, on an ambulance, accompanied by its forces.

Occupation allegations

Commenting on the video at the time, occupation army spokesman Avichai Adraee claimed that his forces found the elderly Palestinian woman handcuffed: “During the activity of our forces inside Gaza, our soldiers launched a drone to comb the area, and during the filming the forces saw a figure, so they called her on loudspeakers in Arabic and Hebrew in order to rule out the possibility of "She was a kidnapped person or a terrorist. Later, the force found out that she was an elderly Palestinian woman who entered the building where she stayed. Her hands were shackled and she was suffering from a bad medical condition."

He continued, "While providing medical care to her, the elderly woman told the force that all her family members had fled to the south, and that Hamas terrorists arrived at her house wearing military uniforms and handcuffed her two days ago and ordered her to say that our soldiers did that," he claimed.

He added, "Our forces provided medical treatment to the elderly woman and then she was released."

Since January 22, the Israeli occupation army has launched a series of intense air and artillery raids on Khan Yunis, and in the vicinity of the city’s hospitals, amid ground advances by its vehicles in the southern and western areas of it, which prompted thousands of Palestinians to flee the city.

Since October 7, 2023, Israel has been waging a devastating war on the Gaza Strip, leaving tens of thousands of civilian casualties, most of them children and women, in addition to an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe and massive destruction of infrastructure.

Source: Anadolu Agency