Key facts
- Hamada al-Banna was missing for about a year after seeking flour in northern Gaza.
- His family was informed he had died under torture in Israeli detention.
- Banna was released from Israeli custody on Sunday, having been forcibly disappeared.
- He described being injured by an Israeli shell and enduring torture in Sde Teiman prison.
- His brother, Adham, was reported killed on the same day Banna disappeared.
Hamada al-Banna, 23, has been released from Israeli detention after being forcibly disappeared for approximately one year. He went missing on August 9, 2025, while attempting to obtain wheat flour from humanitarian aid trucks near Zikim in northern Gaza. His family, including his fiancee Reem Jadallah, had no knowledge of his whereabouts and eventually received news that he had been killed under torture.
Banna recounted that he was injured by an Israeli shell, which caused a large explosion that hurled him through the air, leaving him unconscious. He later learned he had been in a coma for six months and woke up in Israel's Soroka Hospital with memory loss. After regaining his awareness, he was transferred to Sde Teiman prison, where he claims he spent four months in solitary confinement and endured various forms of torture, including beatings, pepper spray, and prolonged exposure to loud noise in a "disco room."
His brother, Adham, was reportedly killed on the same day Hamada disappeared. Jadallah had sold her gold to hire a lawyer in an effort to find Banna, refusing to believe he was dead until his release.