On December 27, 2024, Israeli authorities arrested Palestinian journalist Aed Saleha, 44, at Kamal Adwan Hospital in Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp.
Saleha, an editor at the Hamas-affiliated Radio Voice of Al-Aqsa, told CPJ that Israeli forces stormed the facility, detaining patients, medical staff, and fellow journalists at around 2:00 a.m.
“They arrested us and took us to the Zikim naval base in northern Gaza. From there, we were transferred to a prison in Jerusalem, then to the Sde Teiman detention camp, and later to Ketziot Prison in the desert,” he said.
At Sde Teiman, he alleged detainees were subjected to torture and humiliation.
“We were only allowed to sleep for four hours a day. The rest of the time we were shackled, forced to kneel or prostrate for long hours, or left standing under the rain for extended periods.”
Saleha, a father of two, said he appeared twice before a military court via video conference, where he was accused of belonging to a terrorist organization. He said the hearings were little more than a formality, with the judge refusing to listen to his defence.
He said he lost 22 kilograms during his imprisonment, “I was 96 kilograms when arrested and 74 when released,” he said. “What they gave us couldn’t be called food — it was just enough to keep us barely standing and alive.”
Saleha said, before his release on October 13, 2025 as part of a ceasefire agreement, Israeli intelligence officers allegedly threatened to kill him if he returned to journalism.