Shocking testimonies gathered by the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights/PCHR expose a “systematic and organized policy of sexual torture, including rape” carried out by Israeli occupation forces against Palestinians detained from Gaza.
The report, released Monday, draws on first-hand accounts from recently released detainees, and underscores that these atrocities are not isolated incidents but part of a “deliberate and systemic pattern” of abuse—a facet of the ongoing Israeli genocidal campaign in Gaza.
Brutal assaults on women and men
The report includes graphic, detailed testimonies from both women and men. One survivor, N.A., 42, recounted being raped four times by Israeli soldiers following her arrest in November 2024. Her testimony describes forced nudity, repeated sexual assault, electroshock torture, and beatings.
“On the first day I was raped twice,” she said. “On the second day, I was raped twice again. On the third day, I was left without clothes while they watched me through the door slit. One soldier threatened to post my photos on social media. I got my period while in that room. Only then was I allowed to dress and moved to another room.”
Another former detainee, A.A., 35, said he was abducted from Al-Shifa Hospital in March 2024 and spent 19 months in detention. He reported being stripped naked, threatened with the rape of his family, and sexually assaulted by a trained dog inside the notorious Sde Teiman military camp.
“I suffered a psychological collapse,” A.A. said. “I never imagined anything like this could happen. I had a deep head wound that required seven stitches, without anesthesia. My ribs were fractured, and my limbs were badly bruised.”
In another account, T.Q., 41, arrested at Kamal Adwan Hospital in December 2023, lost consciousness after Israeli forces violently inserted a wooden stick into his rectum multiple times, later forcing him to lick it.
“A female officer finally intervened, untied my hands and gave me a white jumpsuit,” he said. “She brought me a glass of water. I felt blood running from my anus and asked to use the bathroom. When I got there, I removed the blindfold and saw the blood myself.”
Another detainee, M.A., 18, said he and others were repeatedly raped with a glass bottle.
Pattern of abuse previously documented
This is not the first time such violations have been reported. In May 2025, PCHR released another detailed study based on testimonies from 100 released detainees, documenting severe torture, degrading treatment, and inhumane conditions inside Israeli prisons and military detention camps.
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz also reported earlier this year that two Israeli female soldiers forced five Palestinian girls to strip at gunpoint during a night home-raid in Hebron, then unleashing a trained dog on them.
According to PCHR's report, the treatment inflicted by Israeli forces, intelligence agents, and prison guards not only meets the criteria for torture under international law, but also rises to the level of genocide—particularly through actions that “inflict serious bodily or mental harm” and deliberately “impose living conditions aimed at physically destroying the group, in whole or in part.”
These abuses, PCHR states, are calculated to “crush human dignity and erase individual identity”, and occur in military camps closed to international oversight, including the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Execution bill heightens risk
PCHR has warned that detainees face an “imminent risk of death,” particularly after the Israeli Knesset advanced legislation on Nov. 3, 2025 to legalize the execution of Palestinian prisoners.
The draft law stipulates that anyone who causes the death of an Israeli citizen—deliberately or through indifference, and motivated by racism or hatred—must be sentenced to death, with no possibility of commutation. On Tuesday, Nov. 11, the execution bill passed its first reading 39–16 in the 120-seat chamber.
PCHR expressed grave concern that “coerced confessions extracted under torture” may be used to justify mass executions.
The group is calling for urgent international action from countries party to the Conventions Against Torture and Genocide, demanding immediate access for international monitors and the disclosure of forcibly disappeared detainees' whereabouts.
Global outcry and mounting evidence
PCHR vowed to continue documenting these crimes and submit evidence to the International Criminal Court and other justice mechanisms to hold perpetrators accountable.
In October, Israel had returned mutilated bodies of Palestinian detainees bearing clear signs of extreme torture. One corpse showed signs of strangulation with a ligature. In an interview with Al Jazeera, veteran Palestinian plastic and reconstructive surgeon Ghassan Abu Sittah, explained that many corpses returned to Gaza were missing vital organs, showing signs that they had been excised “by an experienced surgeon.”
In total, 135 mutilated bodies were returned from the Sde Teiman camp in the Negev desert.
Human rights groups are now demanding an international investigation into the deaths. The Guardian cited evidence—including documents and photographs—showing that Palestinian detainees were bound, blindfolded, strapped to hospital beds, and forced to wear diapers—details consistent with the outlet's previous reporting.
