Palestinians tell BBC they were sexually abused in Israeli prisons

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

Two Palestinian men have told the BBC they personally experienced the kind of beatings and sexual abuse highlighted in recent reports into the treatment of prisoners in Israeli detention.

The United Nations Committee against Torture said last month that it was deeply concerned about reports indicating “a de facto state policy of organised and widespread torture and ill treatment” of Palestinian detainees in Israeli jails. It said the allegations had “gravely intensified” after the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on 7 October 2023.

Other reports by Israeli and Palestinian rights groups have detailed what they say is “systematic” abuse.

Israel has denied all the allegations, but rights groups say the fury in the country over the 7 October attacks and the treatment of Israeli hostages in Gaza has created a culture of impunity within the prison services, especially towards detainees who have expressed support for Hamas and its attacks.

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

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

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

He was detained without being charged 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, the guards partially stripped him and raped him with a baton on or around 13 March 2024.

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

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

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

“I was hoping to die and be done from that, as the pain was not only caused by the rape, but also from the severe and painful beating.”

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

He said the beatings happened on an almost daily basis, but he was only sexually abused once.

The BBC asked the Israel Prison Service (IPS) for a response to Mr al-Saei’s allegations. It sent a statement, which said: “We operate in full accordance with the law, while ensuring the safety, welfare, and rights of all inmates under its custody.

“We are not aware of the claims described, and to the best of our knowledge, no such incidents have occurred under IPS responsibility.”

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

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

In August 2024, leaked CCTV from inside Sde Teiman military prison in southern Israel showed a Palestinian detainee from Gaza allegedly being abused with a sharp object by soldiers, leaving the man with a pierced rectum. The assault allegedly happened in July 2024.

Five Israeli reservist soldiers were charged with aggravated abuse and causing serious bodily harm to the detainee.

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

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

All five have denied the charges.

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

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

Supporters of the far right have held protests in support of the five accused reservists outside Sde Teiman prison.

In July, before her resignation, at a fiery committee hearing at Israel’s parliament, Hanoch Milwidsky, a politician from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party, was challenged over 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]. Everything.”

A recent opinion poll by the widely respected Israel Democracy Institute indicated that the majority of the Israeli public oppose investigating soldiers when they are suspected of having abused Palestinians from Gaza.

Ahmed, not his real name, lives in the West Bank with his wife and 11 children.

He was arrested by soldiers in January 2024 and was found guilty of incitement to terrorism, after making social media posts praising the 7 October Hamas-led attacks, in which around 1,200 people, mostly Israelis, were killed and a further 251 were taken hostage.

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

He alleges serious sexual abuse while in Israeli detention.

“The prison guards, three of them, took me into a bathroom and stripped me completely naked before forcing me to the ground,” Ahmed said in an interview at his home.

“They put my head in the toilet bowl and a massive man, maybe 150kg (330lb), stood on my head, so I was bent over. Then, I heard the voice of someone talking to the prison dog. The dog was named Messi, like the footballer.”

He then detailed how he said the dog was used to sexually humiliate him. He said his trousers and underwear were removed and the dog mounted his back.

“I could feel its breath… then it jumped on me… I started to scream. The more I screamed, the more they beat me until I almost lost consciousness.”

During his time in detention, Ahmed also said the guards would beat him on a regular basis, including on his genitals.

He said he was released 12 days after the alleged sexual abuse, after serving his full sentence.

We asked Ahmed if there were any medical documents regarding his claims, but he said he did not have any.

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

There are over 9,000 Palestinian security detainees held in Israeli jails, nearly double the number before the 7 October attacks. Many have never been charged.

The recent report by the UN Committee against Torture unequivocally condemned the 7 October attacks, and also expressed deep concern over Israel’s response and the huge loss of human life in Gaza.

Some of the hostages abducted on 7 October and survivors of the attacks have also made allegations of sexual abuse, rape and torture by Hamas and its allies.

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

There are also claims of abuse within prisons run by the Palestinian Authority (PA), which is in charge in parts of the West Bank not under Israeli control and is a political and military rival of Hamas.

The BBC has spoken to a former detainee who said PA security officers beat him and used electric shocks on him.

The BBC has contacted the PA for comment but received no reply. It has previously denied allegations of systematic abuse.

In a report submitted in October to the UN Committee against Torture, five Israeli human rights groups said there had been “a dramatic escalation in torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment across all detention facilities, carried out with near total impunity and implemented as 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 showed Israel had “dismantled existing safeguards and now employs torture throughout the entire detention process – from arrest to imprisonment – targeting Palestinians under occupation and Palestinian citizens, with senior officials sanctioning these abuses while judicial and administrative mechanisms fail to intervene”.

The report said such practices had resulted in a surge of Palestinian deaths in custody, with at least 94 deaths in Israeli custody documented between the start of the Gaza war and the end of August 2025.

Israel’s ambassador to the UN in Geneva rejected the allegations made before the UN Committee against Torture as “disinformation”.

Daniel Meron told the expert panel last month that Israel was “committed to upholding its obligations in line with our moral values and principles, even in the face of the challenges posed by a terrorist organisation”.

He said the relevant Israeli agencies complied fully with the prohibition against torture and that Israel rejected allegations of systematic use of sexual and gender-based violence.