Palestinian poet, SU alum Mosab Abu Toha released from Israeli detention

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Update: This story was updated at 1 p.m. on Nov. 21, 2023.

Mosab Abu Toha has been released, according to friends and Israeli officials, The Guardian reported Tuesday afternoon. Israeli forces detained Abu Toha, an eminent Palestinian poet and Syracuse University graduate, while he was trying to evacuate to southern Gaza, Abu Toha’s colleagues told The Washington Post Monday.

His brother, Hamza, posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, Monday that Israeli forces detained Abu Toha at a checkpoint while he was moving from northern to southern Gaza, according to a translation from Arabic to English by The Guardian. The United States Embassy directed Abu Toha to go through the Rafah crossing located at the border of Gaza and Egypt, Hamza wrote.

The Guardian reported Abu Toha was arrested at a military checkpoint with other Palestinian men Sunday.

Abu Toha graduated from SU’s College of Arts and Sciences with a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing earlier this year.

“We have learned that a member of our alumni community, Mosab Abu Toha, has been detained by Israeli authorities. We are deeply concerned for Abu Toha and his family and are working to learn more about his circumstances surrounding his detention,” a university spokesperson told The Daily Orange Monday night.

Abu Toha published “Things You May Find Hidden in my Ear,” a poetry collection about his life in Gaza, in 2022. The book was a finalist for a National Book Critics Circle Award.

“My poetry is a record of what happened,” he told SU News in May. “I will not forget what happens to me. I do not want people who come after me to forget what happened.”