bbcThis article contains descriptions of sexual abuse and violence that some readers may find distressing.
Two Palestinian men told the BBC they personally experienced the type of beatings and sexual abuse highlighted in recent reports about the treatment of prisoners in Israeli detention.
The United Nations Committee against Torture said last month it was deeply concerned by reports indicating “a de facto state policy of organized and widespread torture and ill-treatment” of Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons. He said the accusations had “severely escalated” after the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023.
Other reports by Israeli and Palestinian human rights groups have detailed what they consider “systematic” abuse.
Israel has denied all allegations, but rights groups say the fury in the country over the October 7 attacks and the treatment of Israeli hostages in Gaza has created a culture of impunity within 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 store, but 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 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 detained in Megiddo prison in northern Israel, he said, guards partially stripped him naked and raped him with a baton around March 13, 2024.
He said he had 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,” 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 your friends here too,'” Mr. al-Saei continued.
“I expected to die and be done with it, since the pain was not only caused by the rape, but also by the severe and painful beating.”
He said the assault lasted between 15 and 20 minutes, during which time the guards also squeezed his genitals, causing him extreme pain.
He said the beatings occurred almost daily, but he was only sexually abused once.
The BBC asked the Israel Prison Service (IPS) for a response to al-Saei’s accusations. It sent a statement saying: “We operate in full compliance with the law, while ensuring the safety, well-being and rights of all inmates in its custody.
“We are not aware of the claims described and, to our knowledge, no incident of this type has occurred under the responsibility of IPS.”
We also asked the IPS if an investigation had been initiated into the alleged sexual assault and if there was any medical record. He made no comments.
IDF brochureAllegations of abuse of Palestinians in Israeli prisons have been made for decades, but a 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, a leaked CCTV camera from inside the Sde Teiman military prison in southern Israel showed a Palestinian detainee from Gaza allegedly being abused by soldiers with a sharp object, leaving him with a pierced rectum. The assault allegedly occurred in July 2024.
Five Israeli reservist soldiers were charged with aggravated abuse and causing serious bodily injury to the detainee.
Last month, they called a press conference on Israeli television, and four of them appeared in black ski masks to conceal their identities.
In an interview with Channel 14 News, a fifth soldier removed his mask to reveal his face and said 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 Prosecutor Major General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi.
He resigned in October, saying he took full responsibility for the leak. He explained that he wanted to “counter false propaganda against army law enforcement authorities,” referring to claims by some right-wing politicians that the accusations were fabricated.
Far-right supporters have held protests in support of the five accused reservists in front of Sde Teiman prison.
In July, before his resignation, at a heated committee hearing in Israel’s parliament, Hanoch Milwidsky, a politician from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party, was questioned about 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 conducted by the highly respected Israel Democracy Institute indicated that a majority of the Israeli public opposes investigating soldiers when they are suspected of abusing Palestinians in 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 found guilty of inciting terrorism, after posting on social media praising the Hamas-led attacks on October 7, in which some 1,200 people, mostly Israelis, were killed and another 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 detained in Israel.
“The prison guards, three of them, took me to a bathroom and stripped me completely naked before forcing me to the floor,” Ahmed said in an interview at his home.
“They put my head in the toilet bowl and a huge man, maybe 150kg (330lb), stood over my head, so I leaned over. Then, I heard someone’s voice talking to the prison dog. The dog’s name was Messi, like the footballer.”
He then detailed how he said the dog was used to sexually humiliate him. He said they took off his pants and underwear and the dog climbed on his back.
“I could feel his breath… then he jumped on me… I started screaming. The more I screamed, the more they beat me until I almost lost consciousness.”
During his detention, Ahmed also said that he was regularly beaten by guards, including on the genitals.
He said he was released 12 days after the alleged sexual abuse, after serving his entire sentence.
We asked Ahmed if there were any medical documents related to his claims, but he said he didn’t have any.
We contacted the IPS to ask for a response to Ahmed’s allegations and whether an investigation had been launched into his alleged abuse, but did not receive a response.
There are more than 9,000 Palestinian security detainees held in Israeli prisons, almost double the number before the October 7 attacks. Many have never been charged.
The recent report of the UN Committee against Torture unequivocally condemned the October 7 attacks and also expressed deep concern about Israel’s response and the enormous loss of human life in Gaza.
Some of the hostages kidnapped on October 7 and survivors of the attacks have also reported 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 allegations of abuses inside prisons run by the Palestinian Authority (PA), which is in charge in parts of the West Bank that are not under Israeli control and is a political and military rival to Hamas.
The BBC spoke to a former detainee who said he was beaten and given electric shocks by PA security officers.
The BBC contacted the Palestinian Authority for comment but received no response. He has previously denied allegations of systematic abuse.
fake imagesIn a report submitted in October to the UN Committee against Torture, five Israeli human rights groups said there had been “a dramatic escalation of torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment in all detention centres, carried out with almost total impunity and implemented as state policy directed at 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, against 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 led to an increase in 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 brought to the UN Committee against Torture as “disinformation.”
Daniel Meron told the panel of experts last month that Israel was “committed to fulfilling 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 complied with the ban on torture and that Israel rejected accusations of systematic use of sexual and gender-based violence.
