Palestinians detained in Israeli prisons have reported severe torture and sexual violence by guards. Survivors describe ongoing psychological struggles even after their release.
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Warning: This story contains descriptions of sexual assault that some readers may find disturbing.
Palestinians who were detained in Israeli prisons have revealed how they suffered dehumanising treatment by guards and soldiers, including torture and sexual violence.
Speaking to Al Jazeera in the Gaza Strip, many former detainees said that even after they were released, their struggle did not end as survival started another psychological battle, with the harrowing memories of imprisonment still haunting them.
Survivor Mohammed al-Bakri was arrested during Israeli military operations in Gaza in March 2024 and was jailed for about 20 months.
He was transferred between several Israeli detention centres before ending up in a prison in occupied East Jerusalem.
There he remained blindfolded and handcuffed alongside other detainees for months, cut off from the outside world, he told Al Jazeera.
One night in prison, Israeli soldiers stripped him naked, unleashed dogs and sexually assaulted him.
“They first handcuffed our hands in front of us. When the rape began, they forced our hands behind our backs, stripped us naked, and threw us onto the floor,” he said.
“Dogs were unleashed on us and viciously attacked us. One of them was extremely large. Some soldiers also used sexual objects during the assaults.”
Upon release, al-Bakri learned that his wife had been killed in an Israeli strike while he was in prison.
More than 9,600 Palestinians were held in Israeli prisons last month, compared with about 5,250 before the war – an 83 per cent increase, say prisoners’ advocacy groups.
They include 350 children and about 3,530 administrative detainees being held without charge.
In another case, 17-year-old Ahmed, whose identity is being concealed by Al Jazeera at his family’s request, was detained near an aid distribution point in Rafah in southern Gaza while trying to get food to his hungry family.
Instead of returning with flour, Ahmed was fearful and traumatised.
He says he endured degrading sexual abuse during detention.
“Israeli female soldiers suddenly arrived and handcuffed us. They stripped us completely and restrained our legs with metal,” he said.
“I was confined in a very small space, and then eight female soldiers appeared fully naked and started to touch sensitive organs in my body. They filmed us and forced us to repeat degrading sexual words.”
The Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, a nonprofit organisation for the protection of human rights, says these testimonies are part of a broader and systematic pattern.
Palestinians have reported torture and sexual violence inflicted by guards and soldiers in Israeli prisons.
Mohammed al-Bakri is a survivor who was arrested during Israeli military operations in Gaza and endured about 20 months in detention, facing severe mistreatment.
Former detainees struggle with psychological battles as they deal with the traumatic memories of their imprisonment even after their release.
Released Palestinians often face ongoing psychological challenges, including trauma and haunting memories from their experiences in detention.
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In its April report titled “Another Genocide Behind Walls,” the organisation documented accounts from released detainees, describing how male detainees have suffered degrading treatment in Israeli detention facilities.
Maha Hussaini of Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor told Al Jazeera that Ahmed and al-Bakri are just two of dozens of cases documented in the organisation’s report.
“We have documented seven forms of sexual violence, including rape and threats of rape as well,” Hussaini said.
Kifaya Khraim from the Ramallah-based Women’s Centre for Legal Aid and Counselling, told Al Jazeera that allegations of torture and sexual violence within Israeli prisons is “very widespread”.
After interviewing 75 women detained in separate centres and police stations in Gaza, the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem, all spoke of sexual violence, including rape, sexual torture, humiliation or degradation, Khraim said from the Hague in the Netherlands.
“It’s systematic. It’s not isolated incidents. It’s not a lone wolf committing that,” Khraim said, adding that Palestinian women and men are victims, while male and female Israeli guards and soldiers are accused of perpetrating the violence.