Palestinians have told the BBC that they have been sexually harassed 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 experienced the kind of beatings and sexual abuse highlighted in recent reports about the treatment of prisoners in Israeli custody.

The United Nations Committee Against Torture last month expressed deep concern over a report showing “a de facto state policy of systematic and widespread torture and ill-treatment” of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli prisons. The report said suspicions had “severely intensified” since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023.

Other reports from Israeli and Palestinian rights groups have detailed what they call “systemic” abuses.

Israel has denied all charges, but human rights groups say domestic outrage over the Oct. 7 attack on Gaza and the treatment of Israeli hostages has created a culture of impunity within the prisons, particularly against prisoners who supported Hamas and its attacks.

CCTV footage leaked from inside an Israeli military prison last year showed a Palestinian man from the Gaza Strip being sexually assaulted by prison guards. This led to the resignation and condemnation of the leaders of Israel’s military and political institutions.

Sami al-Saei, 46, now works in a furniture store but once worked as 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 released this summer after being detained without charge for 16 months under Israel’s controversial administrative detention system.

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

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

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

“They were laughing and having fun. The security guard asked me, ‘Did you have fun? We want to play with you and bring your wives, sisters, mothers and friends here too,'” Mr al-Saei said.

“Not only did I suffer from the sexual assault, but I also suffered from being beaten so badly that I wanted death to be the end of it.”

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

He said he was beaten almost every day but was sexually assaulted only once.

The BBC has asked the Israel Prison Service (IPS) to respond to Alsaei’s claims. “We ensure the safety, well-being and rights of all prisoners in our custody, in full compliance with the law.

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

We also asked the IPS whether an investigation into the sexual assault allegations had been launched and whether medical records were available. No comments were made.

Allegations of abuse of Palestinians in Israeli prisons have been brewing for decades, but one recent incident has shaken the state’s founding and deepened divisions in Israeli society over the treatment of prisoners and detainees accused of supporting Hamas.

In August 2024, leaked CCTV footage from inside the Sde Teiman military prison in southern Israel showed a Palestinian prisoner from the Gaza Strip being abused by soldiers with a sharp object and the man’s rectum pierced. The assault is believed to have occurred in July 2024.

Five Israeli reservists were charged with aggravated abuse and causing serious bodily harm to a detainee.

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

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

All five people denied the charges.

The reserve forces held a press conference after it was revealed that Israel’s top lawyer, Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces Ifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, had leaked the CCTV footage.

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

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

In July, before her resignation, during a heated committee hearing in the Israeli parliament, Hanok Milwisky, a politician from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party, was asked whether it was acceptable to rape detainees.

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

A recent poll by the widely respected Israel Democracy Institute found that a majority of the Israeli public opposes investigating soldiers when they are accused of abusing Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

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 on October 7 after he posted a social media post praising the Hamas-led attack. About 1,200 people, mostly Israelis, were killed in the attack and an additional 251 were taken hostage.

He was sentenced to one year in prison and a fine of 3,000 shekels ($935, 700 pounds).

He claimed he suffered severe sexual abuse while detained in Israel.

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

“I put my head in the toilet and a big man, probably about 150kg, stood over my head and bent down, and I heard someone talking to the prison dog. The dog’s name was Messi, like the football player Messi.”

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

“I could feel his breath… Then he lunged at me… I started screaming. The more I screamed, the more they beat me, almost knocking me unconscious.”

During his detention, Ahmed also said guards would regularly beat him, including on his genitals.

He said he was released 12 days after being accused of sexual abuse.

We asked Ahmed if he had any medical documentation related to his claims, but he said he had none.

We contacted the IPS to request a response to Ahmed’s claims, and an investigation into his alleged abuse has been launched, but we have not received a response.

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

A recent report by the United Nations Committee against Torture clearly condemned the October 7 attack and also expressed deep concern about Israel’s response and the enormous loss of life in Gaza.

Some of the hostages kidnapped on October 7 and survivors of the attack have also alleged 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 in prisons run by the Palestinian Authority (PA). The PA is responsible for parts of the West Bank not controlled by Israel and is a political and military rival of Hamas.

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

The BBC contacted PA for comment but did not receive a response. He previously denied allegations of systematic abuse.

In a report submitted to the United Nations Committee against Torture last October, five Israeli human rights groups said there had been a “dramatic increase in torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment in all detention facilities, carried out with almost total impunity in accordance with state policies targeting Palestinians.”

Adalah, the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel, Parents Against Child Detention, HaMoked and Doctors for Human Rights – Israel presented evidence showing that Israel has “dismantled existing safeguards and is now committing torture against Palestinians and Palestinian citizens under occupation throughout the detention process, from arrest to imprisonment, and that senior officials are approving these abuses while judicial and administrative mechanisms fail to intervene.”

The report notes that such practices have led to a surge in Palestinian deaths in custody, with at least 94 deaths in Israeli custody between the start of the Gaza war and the end of August 2025.

Israel’s ambassador to Geneva dismissed the claims made by the United Nations Committee Against Torture as “false information.”

Daniel Meron told a panel of experts last month that Israel “is committed to uphold its obligations according to our moral values ​​and principles even in the face of challenges posed by terrorist organizations.”

He said the relevant Israeli institutions fully complied with the ban on torture and that Israel rejected claims of systematic use of sexual and gender-based violence.