A toddler in Gaza was returned to his family with burns on his legs after being detained by Israeli forces for ten hours, sparking conflicting accounts of what occurred. Jawad Abu Nassar, aged one year and nine months, had been with his father, Osama, a suspected Hamas operative, when they were taken into custody in central Gaza.
Jawad's mother, Waad Al Shafi, told Sky News that when she removed his trousers, she saw wounds on his legs. “There were entry and exit wounds right here,” she said. “It seems like they used a metal tool to pierce him, and they put out cigarettes on his little legs.” Medical staff who examined the boy noted “marks of a similar size, in similar locations, on both legs,” describing them as “marks of torture, caused in whole, or in part, by lit cigarettes.”
The Israel Defense Forces strongly denied the allegations, calling them “completely unfounded”. The IDF stated that Jawad’s father had admitted to being a member of Hamas and had used his son as a human shield. The military acknowledged firing shots near the pair but said it was intended to move them away from a boundary area, and suggested the injuries might have been caused by debris from gunfire.
Dr Bisan Ahmed, who examined Jawad, provided a clinical assessment, observing “multiple deep, uniform lesions on his lower body, which are clinically consistent with deliberate cigarette burns used as a form of physical torture”. She described them as “deep second degree burns that may reach the nerves”.
The incident began a week earlier when Osama took his son to a market ahead of Eid, mistakenly approaching an area known as the “yellow line” separating parts of Gaza under Israeli control. Witnesses said Israeli troops fired shots and ordered the father to put the child down. Osama complied and continued walking, leaving the toddler alone. The boy’s grandfather, Mohammed Abu Nassar, said: “No father would do that, not even a few steps away. It’s unimaginable.” Family members suggested Osama may have been traumatised after losing his home and a child during his wife’s pregnancy.
The Israeli account asserts that the child was transferred safely to the Red Cross, with released footage showing a soldier saying: “His vitals are stable. Walking and talking, and he’s happy.” For now, the toddler is back with his family but, according to the report, is “too rattled to leave the front door”.
