GAZA, November 2, 2025 (WAFA) – From his wheelchair in a makeshift tent in the central Gaza Strip, Mahmoud Saeed Abu Foul, 28, calls on his younger brother to hand him a glass of water. He has lost all direct connection with the world around him since he was blinded ten months ago due to torture he endured inside Israel’s infamous Sde Teiman camp.
During his detention, Abu Foul, along with hundreds of other prisoners he encountered, was subjected to severe physical abuse. The worst moment, he recalls, was when a soldier struck his head with a metal chair about six weeks after his arrest.
“I lost my sight when a soldier grabbed my head and smashed my forehead several times against an iron chair. I saw what looked like a flash of white light, and then nothing since,” Abu Foul told WAFA.
He said he lost consciousness after the blows, and when he woke up, he could no longer see. “I thought it was temporary—maybe hours or days—but my vision never returned.” His eyelids have since fused shut, oozing blood and tears with a foul odor.
Despite repeated pleas for medical help, prison authorities only gave him ointment and eye drops once. “I kept asking for treatment, but they ignored me. The pain in my eyes and head never stopped—it feels like an electric current running from my head to my left eye,” he said.
Abu Foul now lives with his family in a small tent in the town of Al-Zawaida, after being displaced several times—from their destroyed home in Beit Lahiya to Gaza City, and then again due to heavy bombardment. His tent stands near a garbage dump, surrounded by the stench of waste and buzzing flies.
Israeli forces abducted him along with more than 200 medical workers and displaced civilians at Kamal Adwan Hospital on December 27, 2024, after besieging the facility for weeks. He was taken to Al-Fakhoura School in Jabalia, which soldiers had turned into a military post, where detainees were beaten through the night in freezing temperatures. He was later moved to a base near Zikim, where soldiers confiscated his crutches—leaving him, an amputee, unable to move for months.
Abu Foul lost his leg 12 years ago in an Israeli airstrike on Jabalia refugee camp. In Sde Teiman, he endured extreme physical and psychological torture, including beatings on his spine and forced humiliation. Prisoners were reportedly handcuffed while eating and forced to feed themselves using only their mouths.
“They urinated on prisoners, threatened to kill their families, and used pins to stab them in sensitive areas,” Abu Foul said.
His father, Saeed Abu Foul, 57, said they recently met a medical specialist who explained that a proper diagnosis of his son’s condition could not be made without opening his eyelids—an operation that carries significant risk given the lack of medical equipment and supplies in Gaza, particularly for eye surgery.
Abu Foul was released on October 13 as part of a group of 1,700 prisoners freed under the latest ceasefire agreement. Despite his condition, he remains hopeful for treatment that could help him regain his sight, whether inside or outside Palestine.
“I miss seeing my parents’ faces, my siblings, my friends, the food, the streets, the sand, the sky,” he said, raising his head toward the light he can no longer perceive. “I just want to live normally again—to eat by myself, walk by myself, and not depend on anyone.”
His father added somberly, “The occupation caused him to lose his leg, then his sight, and destroyed our home. Our pain is endless—but perhaps someone will help bring back his vision. That’s the only comfort left.”
M.N
