On December 27, 2024, the Israeli army arrested 33-year-old Palestinian freelance photographer Islam Ahmed in northern Gaza, where he was documenting conditions at Kamal Adwan Hospital in the Jabalia refugee camp. He told CPJ he has freelanced for the Middle East Eye and several other international outlets.
“They arrested us and took us to the Zikim naval base in northern Gaza. I stayed there for three days in freezing cold weather and was tortured in multiple ways — beaten, handcuffed tightly so the cuffs cut into my skin, and forced to sit for hours on a chair with my hands and feet bound,” Ahmed told CPJ.
Ahmed described being subjected to electric shocks using a defibrillator device, which left severe burns on his chest.
“They used it as a torture tool,” he said. “The burns exposed the flesh. They also hurled insults at our mothers, sisters, and wives — part of the psychological abuse.”
Ahmed said Israeli authorities denied him the right to legal representation or attorney visits throughout his imprisonment. He said he appeared twice before a military judge via video conference, where his detention was renewed under the charge of being an ‘unlawful combatant.’
“What’s strange,” he noted, “is that the accusation would change depending on the judge — one day Hamas, the next day Islamic Jihad, or even ISIS.”
During his 10 months in Israeli custody — first at Sde Teiman new Gaza and later at Nafha Prison — Ahmed said he lost 29 kilograms, “I was 106 kilograms when arrested, 77 when released, and at one point only 69 kilograms because of hunger, poor-quality food, and constant torture and beatings.”
Ahmed added that Israeli intelligence officers threatened him upon release, warning him not to resume his journalistic work.
Ahmed was released in the hostage–prisoner exchange deal between Israel and Hamas on October 13, 2025.