Palestinians tell BBC they were sexually abused in Israeli prisons

This article contains descriptions of sexual abuse and violence that some readers may find distressing.

Two Palestinian men told the BBC they had experienced first-hand the kind of beatings and sexual abuse highlighted in recent reports on the treatment of prisoners in Israeli detention facilities.

The U.N. Committee against Torture said last month it was deeply concerned about reports of a “de facto state policy of organized and widespread torture and ill-treatment” against Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons. The report said the allegations “seriously intensified” following the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

Other reports from Israel and Palestinian rights groups detailed what they called “systemic” abuses.

Israel denies all accusations, but rights groups say the country’s anger over the Oct. 7 attack and the treatment of Israeli hostages in Gaza has fostered a culture of impunity within the prison service, particularly for detainees who express support for Hamas and its attacks.

Last year, leaked CCTV footage from an Israeli military prison showed a Palestinian man from Gaza allegedly being sexually abused by prison guards. This led to resignations and recriminations at the top of Israel’s military and political establishment.

Sami al-Saei, 46, now works in a furniture store, but he used to be a freelance journalist in the town of Tulkem in the northern occupied West Bank.

He was arrested by Israeli soldiers in January 2024 after working with journalists to arrange interviews with members of Hamas and other armed groups.

He was held without charge for 16 months under Israel’s controversial administrative detention system before being released this summer.

He said that while he was being held in the Megiddo prison in northern Israel, guards stripped him partially of his clothes and raped him with a baton around March 13, 2024.

He said he decided to speak to the BBC about his sexual abuse allegations despite the risk of ostracism in the West Bank’s often conservative Palestinian society.

“There were five or six people,” he said.

“They were laughing so hard. The guard asked me: ‘Do you like this? We want to play with you and bring your wife, your sister, your mother and your friends here,'” Mr. Say continued.

“I wish I could die because the pain is not just from the rape but from the severe and painful beatings.”

He said the attack lasted about 15 to 20 minutes, during which the guards squeezed his genitals, causing extreme pain.

He said beatings occurred almost daily but he was only abused once.

The BBC asked the Israel Prison Service (IPS) to respond to Mr Say’s allegations. It issued a statement in which it said: “We operate fully within the law while ensuring the safety, welfare and rights of all prisoners in its custody.

“We are unaware of the claims described and to our knowledge no such incident has occurred within the IPS area of ​​responsibility.”

We also asked IPS whether an investigation into the alleged sexual assault had been launched and whether any medical records existed. It did not comment.

Allegations of abuse of Palestinians in Israeli prisons have persisted for decades, but a recent case has shaken the country’s regime and deepened growing divisions in Israeli society over the treatment of prisoners and detainees accused of supporting Hamas.

In August 2024, CCTV from the Steetman military prison in southern Israel was leaked, showing a Palestinian detainee from Gaza allegedly being tortured by soldiers with sharp objects, resulting in the man’s rectum being punctured. The attack is said to have occurred in July 2024.

Five Israeli reservists have been accused of serious abuse and causing serious bodily harm to detainees.

Last month, they held a news conference on Israeli television, with four of them wearing black balaclavas to hide their identities.

In an interview with Channel 14 News, a fifth soldier took off his mask and revealed his face, saying he had nothing to hide.

All five deny the accusations.

The reservists held a press conference after the CCTV footage was leaked by the Israeli military’s top lawyer, Maj. Gen. Ifat Tomer Yerushalmi, the military attorney general.

She resigned in October and said she took full responsibility for the leaks. She explained that she wanted to “counter false propaganda against military law enforcement authorities” – referring to claims by some right-wing politicians that the accusations were fabricated.

Far-right supporters staged a protest outside Stettman prison in support of five accused reservists.

In July, Hanoch Milwidsky, a politician from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party, was questioned at a heated committee hearing in the Knesset over whether it was acceptable to rape detainees before she resigned.

“Shut up, shut up,” he shouted. “Yes, if they are Nukhba (elite Hamas fighters who participated in the October 7 attack), everything is legal. Everything.”

A recent poll by the widely respected Israel Democracy Institute showed that a majority of the Israeli public opposes an investigation into soldiers suspected of abusing Palestinians in Gaza.

Ahmed (pseudonym) lives in the West Bank with his wife and 11 children.

He was arrested by soldiers in January 2024 and found guilty of inciting terrorism after he posted on social media praising the October 7 attack led by Hamas that killed some 1,200 people, mostly Israelis, and took 251 others hostage.

He was sentenced to one year in prison and fined 3,000 shekels ($935, £700).

He claims to have suffered severe sexual abuse while in Israeli custody.

“Three guards took me into the bathroom, stripped me naked and pushed me to the ground,” Ahmed said in an interview at his home.

“They put my head in the toilet and a big man, about 150 kilograms (330 pounds), was standing on my head, so I bent down. Then, I heard someone talking to the prison dog. The dog was named Messi, like the football player.”

He then detailed how he used the dog to sexually humiliate him. He said his pants and underwear were removed and the dog climbed on his back.

“I could feel it breathing… and then it jumped on me… and I started screaming. The more I screamed, the more they beat me until I was almost unconscious.”

Ahmed also said that while in detention, guards would frequently beat him, including on his genitals.

He said he was released after serving 12 days of his sentence after being charged with sexual abuse.

We asked Ahmed if he had any medical documentation regarding his claims, but he said he did not.

We contacted IPS for a response to Ahmed’s allegations and whether an investigation into his alleged abuse had been launched, but we did not receive a response.

Israeli prisons hold more than 9,000 Palestinian security detainees, nearly double the number before the October 7 attacks. Many were never charged.

The recent report of the United Nations Committee against Torture unequivocally condemned the October 7 attack and expressed deep concern about Israel’s response and the huge human toll in Gaza.

Some of the hostages abducted on October 7 and survivors of the attack have also accused Hamas and its allies of sexual abuse, rape and torture.

Hamas has also publicly executed Gazan Palestinians accused of collaborating with Israel.

There have also been claims of abuses in prisons run by the Palestinian Authority (PA), which governs parts of the West Bank not under Israeli control and is a political and military rival of Hamas.

The BBC interviewed a former detainee who said PA security officers beat him and gave him electric shocks.

The BBC has contacted PA for comment but has not received a reply. The company has previously denied accusations of systemic abuse.

In an October report to the United Nations Committee against Torture, five Israeli rights groups said there had been “a dramatic escalation of torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment in all detention facilities, with almost total impunity and as a state policy against Palestinians”.

Evidence provided by Adalah, the Israeli Public Committee Against Torture, the Parents Committee Against Child Detention, HaMoked and Physicians for Human Rights Israel shows that Israel has “abrogated existing safeguards and now uses torture throughout the detention process, from arrest to incarceration, targeting Palestinians and Palestinian citizens under occupation, with senior officials sanctioning these abuses and judicial and administrative mechanisms failing to intervene”.

The report states that such practices have led to a surge in Palestinian deaths in custody, with at least 94 people dying in Israeli custody from the beginning of the Gaza war to its end in August 2025.

Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva dismissed the accusations made to the United Nations Committee against Torture as “disinformation.”

Daniel Meron told the panel last month that Israel is “committed to fulfilling its obligations consistent with our moral values ​​and principles even in the face of challenges posed by terrorist groups”.

He said that relevant Israeli institutions fully comply with the prohibition of torture and that Israel denies accusations of systematic use of sexual and gender-based violence.