Warning: The following content contains descriptions of sexual assault that some readers may find disturbing.
Former Palestinian detainees have given detailed accounts of systematic sexual abuse, torture, and humiliation inside Israeli prisons. The testimonies were collected in Al Jazeera's documentary Bodies of Evidence: Israel’s Darkest Weapon.
Mohammed Zaki al-Bakri, a survivor of Israel's genocide in Gaza who was detained in Khan Younis, said he was held for 20 months and transferred across five Israeli prisons. "We were stripped naked, handcuffed behind our backs, our legs were tied, and we were blindfolded," he said. Al-Bakri alleged he was raped by a large dog.
Another former detainee, identified by the pseudonym Job, who was moved through eight Israeli detention facilities, described dogs being set on prisoners at Sde Teiman prison in a systematic manner. A third Palestinian from Gaza recounted a similar dog attack.
Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territory, confirmed in the film that Palestinians have long suffered "the use of animals, the use of dogs to attack, abuse and even cause sexual abuse." She described a broader pattern of abuse reported by detainees: "being handcuffed until they bleed, beatings, dragging, starvation, exposure to cold, denial of medical care, dog attacks, solitary confinement, sexual abuse, being forced to strip naked and threatened with rape and the killing of family members."
Kifaya Khraim, international advocacy coordinator at the Women's Centre for Legal Aid and Counselling in Ramallah, told Al Jazeera about a family in Hebron in July 2023, when Israeli forces broke into their home "under the threat of large dogs," forcing women to undress and walk naked around the house in front of female soldiers.
Israeli lawyer Ben Marmarelli, who represents Palestinian detainees, described first meeting his clients in April 2024: "I saw a skeleton. They were getting about 800 calories a day. So they all looked like prisoners in Holocaust movies." The UN minimum for survival is 2,100 calories per day.
Since 1967, official Palestinian sources estimate more than 750,000 Palestinians have been detained by Israel. A UN-cited figure states that over 800,000 Palestinians were imprisoned between 1967 and 2006. In April 2026, Addameer, the prisoner support and human rights organization, reported 9,600 Palestinian political prisoners in detention, including 3,532 administrative detainees and 342 children along with 84 women.
Israel denies allegations of systematic abuse, stating that detainees are held while "protecting their fundamental rights." However, Raji Sourani, director of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, said Sde Teiman is just "the tip of the iceberg."
In August 2025, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres "warned" Israel about potential inclusion in the UN's annual list of parties suspected of conflict-related sexual violence, citing "deep concern" over allegations of sexual abuse. The International Committee of the Red Cross also said it has been unable to visit Palestinian detainees since October 7, 2023.
