GAZA, (PIC)
The British website Middle East Eye published a report highlighting the living conditions of disabled individuals in Gaza, focusing on the case of Ezzaldeen Al-Banna, a 40-year-old disabled man who was martyred in Israeli prisons last month.
The report explained that Israeli forces arrested Al-Banna, who suffered from partial paralysis, in late November. He was taken from the building where he resided in Gaza City. Despite his disability, Al-Banna was subjected to brutal beatings by the Israeli soldiers who arrested and dragged him on the ground. According to his relatives, the injuries he sustained eventually led to complications that caused his death in February.
Mohammed Al-Banna, Ezzaldeen’s cousin who accompanied him during their multiple displacements, stated that the soldiers treated him savagely without any regard for his disability. Mohammed added that they stayed in the house they sought refuge in for two days, and on the third day, Israeli forces stormed the building at dawn, continuing to fire and throw sound grenades at the building until sunrise.
Once the soldiers entered the place, they ordered the group of men, including Ezzaldeen Al-Banna, to leave the building without Ezzaldeen’s wheelchair. Mohammed and another relative had to carry him to the ground floor while descending the stairs. Mohammed narrated that during their descent, while carrying Ezzaldeen, they saw their neighbor Abu Mohammed Hamid lying dead on the ground. He had been shot because he exited his room without permission.
Mohammed added that during the 15-hour ordeal, while sitting on broken glass, they were occasionally slapped in the face by an Israeli soldier, both Ezzaldeen and his brother Ihab.
According to the report, Ezzaldeen, who was separated from his family members, faced additional difficulties. He was deprived of food and water, and subjected to brutal beatings.
The report continued that Mohammed was released after interrogation and ordered to walk to the south of the Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, Israeli soldiers took Ezzaldeen without his wheelchair, and Mohammed couldn’t see where they took him because a sniper behind him was shooting at anyone who turned around.
Zareef Al-Ghurra, a disability rights activist in Gaza and a friend of Ezzaldeen, said that Ezzaldeen was an easy target for the Israeli occupation. When the Israeli army stormed the area where Ezzaldeen was staying, most residents managed to escape, but he couldn’t due to his disability. He was arrested along with his brother, who refused to leave him.
Al-Ghurra added that Ezzaldeen was treated harshly and dragged by the soldiers on the street. He stated, “When he arrived at the detention center, they dragged him, which resulted in serious injuries to his legs and feet.”
A friend of Ezzaldeen said that this treatment led to his death, possibly due to an infection he contracted while being dragged and having an open wound. When he entered the prison, his comrades noticed a foul smell emanating from his legs due to an untreated, inflamed wound. They pleaded with the prison authorities to assist Ezzaldeen, but their requests were rejected until his condition deteriorated during the months he spent in prison. Al-Ghurra said, “Only then did they send him to the hospital, where he passed away.”
Despite the fact that many Palestinians with disabilities have been martyred in the indiscriminate shelling by Israeli forces, some have also been martyred by sniper fire, drone attacks, extrajudicial executions, starvation, beatings, and torture, just like Ezzaldeen.
