Shadi Abu Sido, a Palestinian photojournalist from Gaza, was arrested at Shifa hospital in March 2024 and never charged. While held at the Sde Teiman torture facility, guards told him his wife and two children had been killed in the war. He described the moment as the lowest point of his life, a psychological blow intended to break him. “I got hysterical,” he told reporters. “I was astonished, it cannot be explained, they were alive. Imagine amid death – life.” Abu Sido was also physically tortured. He described being severely beaten, shackled so tightly his wrists were left raw, blindfolded, and forced to kneel for long periods. These kinds of abuses have been reported by other Palestinian detainees, especially since the war in Gaza intensified in late 2023. When he was released in a ceasefire prisoner exchange, Abu Sido returned to Gaza and found his family alive—a moment he described as his soul returning to his body. This is the sort of mental and physical torture innocent Gazan hostages were subjected to.