This article contains descriptions of sexual abuse and violence which some readers may find distressing.
Two Palestinian men have told the BBC they personally experienced the kind of beatings and sexual abuse highlighted in recent reports into the treatment of prisoners in Israeli detention.
The United Nations Committee against Torture said last month that it was deeply concerned about reports indicating a de facto state policy of organised and widespread torture and ill treatment of Palestinian detainees in Israeli jails. It said the allegations had gravely intensified after the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023.
Other reports by Israeli and Palestinian rights groups have detailed what they say is systematic abuse.
Israel has denied all the 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 the 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 shop, but he 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 reporters to arrange interviews with members of Hamas and other armed groups. He was detained without being charged for 16 months, under a controversial Israeli system known as administrative detention, before being released this summer.
While he was being held in Megiddo prison in northern Israel, he said, the guards partially stripped him and raped him with a baton on or around March 13, 2024. He said he had decided to speak to the BBC about his allegations of sexual abuse, despite the risk of being ostracised in the often conservative Palestinian society in the West Bank.
Another man, Ahmed (not his real name), now lives with his wife and 11 children in the West Bank. He was arrested in January 2024 and sentenced to one year in prison for incitement to terrorism. He alleges serious sexual abuse while in Israeli detention. During his time in detention, he claims that guards would beat him regularly, including on his genitals, and that he was forced to endure humiliating acts involving a prison dog.
In October, five Israeli human rights groups reported a dramatic escalation in torture targeting Palestinians, further fueling international scrutiny. The allegations, both from Palestinian detainees and Israeli rights groups, underscore a troubling pattern of abuse within Israeli detention facilities.
