Israel uses rape and sexual abuse in prisons as a weapon of war

An Al Jazeera investigation, along with reports from the United Nations and human rights organizations, has documented evidence of Israel's widespread and systematic use of rape and sexual torture against Palestinian prisoners since the October 7, 2023 attack.

Muhammad al-Bakri, a Gaza civil servant, vividly recalls the day he was raped: April 10, 2024, during the Eid al-Fitr holiday. He says six soldiers surrounded him, stripped him, blindfolded and handcuffed him, then raped him while guards laughed and filmed. “There was no mercy. We were subjected to sexual abuse and beatings for about 20 to 30 minutes,” al-Bakri said.

Another prisoner, identified as Job, recounted that female soldiers entered his cell, stripped him, and raped him with foreign objects while surrounding soldiers clapped and filmed.

A March 2025 UN report found evidence of Israel's “systematic” use of sexual, reproductive, and gender-based violence since October 7, 2023. In May 2025, Israel was added to the UN's “blacklist of sexual violence in conflict zones.”

Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, stated the purpose behind the sexual abuse is to destroy the victim and their sense of self-worth. “Torture, especially rape and other forms of sexual torture, destroys a person's mind,” she said.

Despite clear evidence, no soldier or guard has been convicted of sexually abusing Palestinians. In July 2024, Israel arrested 10 security personnel after a leaked video showed the rape of a prisoner at the Sde Teiman detention camp. However, far-right protesters, including lawmakers, tried to storm the facility to free them. By July 2025, Israel had dropped all charges against the guards.

Hanoch Milwidsky, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party, when asked in the Israeli parliament in July 2024 whether it is legal to rape a prisoner, shouted: “Yes. If he is a Nukhba (Hamas) fighter, then everything is legal.”

Triestino Mariniello, a professor at Liverpool John Moores University and a member of the legal team representing Gaza victims at the International Criminal Court (ICC), highlighted the crucial difference between isolated acts of sexual violence and systematic acts against civilians. “The former can constitute war crimes. When similar acts are organized and widespread, they constitute crimes against humanity,” he said.

Albanese emphasized: “Surviving sexual violence and torture in general, and rape, is brutal. Imagine when it's done on a large scale systematically against a people. That means the destruction of that people.”