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 personally suffered the kind of beatings and sexual abuse highlighted in recent reports on the treatment of prisoners in Israeli detentions.

The UN Committee Against Torture last month said it was deeply concerned by reports of a “de facto state policy of organized and widespread torture and ill-treatment” against Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons. He said the allegations had “severely intensified” after the attacks carried out by Hamas against Israel on October 7, 2023.

Other reports by Israeli and Palestinian rights groups have detailed what they consider to be “systematic” abuses.

Israel has denied all allegations, but rights groups say fury in the country over the Oct. 7 attacks and the treatment of Israeli hostages in Gaza has created a culture of impunity within the prison service, particularly toward inmates who have expressed support for Hamas and its attacks.

Last year, leaked CCTV footage from inside an Israeli military prison showed a Palestinian from Gaza allegedly being sexually assaulted by prison guards. This led to a resignation and recriminations at the top of the Israeli military and political establishment.

Sami al-Saei, 46, now works in a furniture store, but he was once a freelance journalist in the town of Tulkarm, 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 a controversial Israeli system known as administrative detention, before being released this summer.

While he was being held in Megiddo prison in northern Israel, he said, guards partially undressed him and raped him with batons around March 13, 2024.

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

“There were five or six of them,” he said.

“They were laughing and enjoying it. The guard asked me, ‘Do you like it? We want to play with you and bring your wife, your sister, your mother and your friends here too,'” Mr. al-Saei continued.

“I was hoping to die and be done with it, because the pain was not only caused by the rape, but also by the violent and painful beatings.”

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

He said the beatings happened almost daily, but he was only sexually assaulted once.

The BBC has asked the Israel Prison Service (IPS) for a response to Mr al-Saei’s allegations. He sent a statement that said: “We operate in full compliance with the law, while ensuring the safety, well-being and rights of all detainees in its custody.

“We are not aware of the allegations described and, to our knowledge, no such incident has occurred under the responsibility of the IPS.”

We also asked the IPS if an investigation had been opened into the alleged sexual assault and if there were any medical records. He made no comment.

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

In August 2024, leaked video surveillance from inside the Sde Teiman military prison in southern Israel showed a Palestinian detainee from Gaza allegedly being mistreated with a sharp object by soldiers, leaving the man with his rectum pierced. The attack would have taken place in July 2024.

Five Israeli reserve soldiers were charged with aggravated assault and causing serious injury to the detainee.

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

In an interview with Channel 14 News, a fifth soldier removed his mask to reveal his face, saying he had nothing to hide.

All five have denied the accusations.

The reservists held the press conference after it emerged that the CCTV footage had been leaked by the Israeli army’s top lawyer, Military Advocate General General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi.

She resigned in October, saying she took full responsibility for the leak. She said she had wanted to “counter false propaganda against military law enforcement” – a reference to claims by some right-wing politicians that the allegations were fabricated.

Far-right supporters demonstrated outside Sde Teiman prison in support of the five accused reservists.

In July, before his resignation, during a fiery committee hearing in the Israeli Parliament, Hanoch Milwidsky, a politician in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party, was asked whether raping a detainee was acceptable.

“Shut up, shut up,” he shouted. “Yes, everything is legitimate if they are Nukhba [elite Hamas fighters who took part in the 7 October attacks]. All.”

A recent opinion poll by the well-respected Israel Democracy Institute indicated that the majority of the Israeli public opposes investigating soldiers when they are suspected of abusing Palestinians in Gaza.

Ahmed, whose name has been changed, lives in the West Bank with his wife and 11 children.

He was arrested by soldiers in January 2024 and convicted of inciting terrorism, after posting messages on social media praising the attacks carried out by Hamas on October 7, in which around 1,200 people, mostly Israelis, were killed and 251 others taken hostage.

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

He alleges serious sexual abuse while in Israeli custody.

“The prison guards, three of them, took me to the toilet and stripped me completely before throwing me on the ground,” Ahmed said in an interview at his home.

“They put my head in the toilet bowl and a massive man, maybe 150kg, stood on my head, so I was bent over. Then I heard the voice of someone talking to the prison dog. The dog was called Messi, like the footballer.”

He then explained how he believed the dog had been used to sexually humiliate him. He said his pants and underwear were removed and the dog got on his back.

“I could feel his breath… then he jumped on me… I started screaming. The more I screamed, the more they hit me until I almost lost consciousness.”

During his detention, Ahmed also said that guards regularly beat him, particularly on his genitals.

He said he was released 12 days after the alleged sexual abuse, having served his entire sentence.

We asked Ahmed if there was any medical documentation regarding his claims, but he said he had none.

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

There are more than 9,000 Palestinian detainees held in Israeli prisons, almost double the number before the October 7 attacks. Many have never been charged.

The recent report of the United Nations Committee against Torture unequivocally condemned the October 7 attacks and also expressed deep concern over Israel’s response and the enormous loss of life in Gaza.

Some of the hostages kidnapped on October 7 and survivors of the attacks have also reported sexual abuse, rape and torture at the hands of Hamas and its allies.

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

Abuses have also been reported in prisons run by the Palestinian Authority (PA), which controls parts of the West Bank not controlled by Israel and is a political and military rival of Hamas.

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

The BBC contacted the AP for comment but received no response. He has previously denied allegations of systematic abuse.

In a report submitted in October to the United Nations Committee Against Torture, five Israeli human rights groups said there had been “a dramatic escalation of torture and cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment in all detention centers, carried out with near-total impunity and implemented as part of a state policy targeting Palestinians.”

Adalah, the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel, Parents Against Child Detention, HaMoked and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel presented evidence that they said demonstrated that Israel had “dismantled existing safeguards and now employs torture throughout the detention process – from arrest to imprisonment – targeting Palestinians under occupation and Palestinian citizens, with senior officials sanctioning these abuses while judicial and administrative mechanisms do not intervene.”

The report says such practices have led to an increase in Palestinian deaths in custody, with at least 94 deaths in Israeli custody recorded between the start of the Gaza war and the end of August 2025.

Israel’s ambassador to the UN in Geneva has rejected the allegations made before the UN Committee Against Torture, calling them “disinformation”.

Daniel Meron told the panel last month that Israel was “determined to uphold its obligations in accordance with our values ​​and moral principles, even in the face of challenges posed by a terrorist organization.”

He said relevant Israeli agencies fully respect the ban on torture and that Israel rejects allegations of systematic use of sexual and gender-based violence.