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Hisham Abu Is’ifan, 54, a father of six from the Wadi al-Hassin neighborhood in central Hebron, attacked by soldiers on 12 June 2024

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Hisham Abu Is’ifan, 54, a father of six from the Wadi al-Hassin neighborhood in central Hebron, attacked by soldiers on 12 June 2024

I live with my wife and our six children near the settlement of Kiryat Arba. Our house is separated from it by a tall concrete wall, about 80 meters high, with barbed wire on top.

When I kept shouting in pain, the soldier sat down on me and pressed both his knees hard into my chest until felt I couldn’t breathe from the pain

On 12 June 2024, at around 7:00 A.M., I was on my way to work. I’m a civil servant at the Ministry of Education. As soon as I got to the street that separates the a-Ras area from the Wadi al-Hassin area, a soldier who was standing about 50 meters away from me pointed his gun at me and yelled at me to stop. I did as he said and asked him in English to calm down, but he kept yelling and acting wound up. I explained to him that I was going to work and didn’t pose any kind of danger. He came up to me and pushed me, and then ordered me to hand over my ID card and phone. Before I managed to give him the phone, he grabbed me by the back of the neck and shoved me to the ground. My back hurt a lot and I cried out. I told him I have back pain and have had surgery for a herniated disc, but in response he just yelled and swore at me. When I kept shouting in pain, the soldier sat down on me and pressed both his knees hard into my chest until felt I couldn’t breathe from the pain.

After that, the soldier got up and walked away and two more soldiers came. I was still lying on the ground, barely breathing. I asked the soldiers to call for an ambulance. I think I blacked out for a few minutes, and then I heard someone speaking to me in Arabic. I think it was a Civil Administration officer. He told me to get up, but I couldn’t. I asked him to get me an ambulance, as well. He refused and ordered me to get up again. I told him I couldn’t move and that the soldier had knocked me down hard on my back after recent back surgery. He told me he didn’t care and accused me of not obeying the soldier and not giving him my ID card. I told him the soldier was lying and that he had my ID card in his pocket. The soldier pulled my ID card out of his pocket and handed it to the officer.

We and our children don’t feel safe anymore, because of the criminal bullying by hate-filled soldiers who patrol this street all the time and attack every Palestinian they see

In the meantime, my brother Jamal, my neighbor Fahed, my cousin Nur and my wife arrived. Jamal offered to call an ambulance to take me to the hospital, but I said no because I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to get back home, because since the area was closed off. I asked them to carry me home. My relatives picked me up and carried me home, about 700 meters. That was two weeks ago, and I still have severe back pain. I went to see a doctor several times to make sure I wasn’t caused long-term damage.

I later understood that the day the soldier attacked me was the Jewish holiday of Shavuot, and that was why they’d closed the area to Palestinian movement. Ever since the war in Gaza broke out and the events of October 7, the occupation has made our lives hell. There were severe restrictions on movement in our area before, but now it’s become a kind of huge unbearable prison. We and our children don’t feel safe anymore, because of the criminal bullying by hate-filled soldiers who patrol this street all the time and attack every Palestinian they see. 

* Testimony given to B’Tselem field researcher Manal al-Ja’bari on 23 June 2024

Israel’s regime of apartheid and occupation is inextricably bound up in human rights violations. B’Tselem strives to end this regime, as that is the only way forward to a future in which human rights, democracy, liberty and equality are ensured to all people, both Palestinian and Israeli, living between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.

Since the Hamas attack on 7 October 2023, Israel has acted in a coordinated and deliberate manner to destroy Palestinian society in the Gaza Strip, committing genocide against its residents. In light of Israel’s actions in Gaza, the public statements made by Israeli decision-makers, and the international community’s failure to take effective action, there is a serious risk that the Israeli regime will expand the genocide to other areas under its control—first and foremost, the West Bank.
B’Tselem calls on the Israeli public and the international community to use every tool available under international law to bring an immediate end to Israel’s genocide against the Palestinian people.