GAZA, (PIC)
New testimonies from Palestinian detainees held in Israeli prisons, alongside a major investigation published by The New York Times, have shed renewed light on allegations of systematic torture, sexual abuse, and degrading treatment against Palestinians in Israeli detention facilities.
The Palestinian Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society released “horrific” testimonies from detainees from the Gaza Strip held in Israeli prisons, particularly in the “Rakefet” section of Negev Prison and the clinic of Ramla Prison.
According to the report, the detainees described severe beatings, humiliation, starvation, medical neglect, and systematic torture, including the deliberate tightening of handcuffs to cut blood circulation and the use of finger-breaking as a method of punishment and coercion.
Prisoners said they were forced to remain handcuffed during outdoor breaks, barred from speaking, and denied basic hygiene and religious practices.
Testimonies also described overcrowded cells, sleep deprivation, confiscation of mattresses for most of the day, and repeated threats before lawyer visits to prevent detainees from speaking about prison conditions.
Several detainees recounted undergoing prolonged military interrogations involving beatings, stress positions, blindfolding, and assaults on sensitive parts of the body in attempts to extract confessions.
One prisoner said severe torture caused him to lose sensation in his legs, while another reported sustaining a broken finger after being transferred to the Rakefet section.
The report also documented the continued spread of scabies inside Negev Prison amid deliberate denial of treatment.
The two Palestinian organizations said detainees from Gaza remain subjected to some of the harshest abuses under Israel’s “unlawful combatants” classification, which they argued has enabled arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance, and torture without effective international oversight.
The revelations came as columnist Nicholas Kristof published an extensive investigation in The New York Times examining allegations of sexual violence against Palestinians in Israeli detention facilities and across the West Bank.
Kristof said his reporting was based on interviews with 14 Palestinian men and women who said they were subjected to sexual abuse during detention or interrogation, alongside corroborating testimonies from lawyers, aid workers, and family members.
One of the most disturbing testimonies came from Palestinian journalist Sami al-Sa’i, who described being stripped, beaten, and assaulted with objects during detention in what he said was an effort to pressure him into cooperating with Israeli intelligence.
The article cited human rights groups and international organizations documenting what they described as a pattern of impunity surrounding abuses against Palestinian detainees.
Sari Bashi, executive director of the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel, said her organization had filed hundreds of complaints related to abuses against Palestinian detainees without resulting in meaningful prosecutions.
Kristof also referenced a 2025 UN report that described sexual violence against Palestinians in detention as part of broader abuse practices, as well as findings by the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor concluding that systematic sexual violence had become widespread within the Israeli prison system.
Additional data cited in the report included findings from Save the Children showing that more than half of Palestinian children surveyed after detention reported experiencing or witnessing sexual violence.
The Committee to Protect Journalists also documented testimonies indicating that 29 percent of previously detained Palestinian journalists had been subjected to forms of sexual violence.
The investigation further highlighted abuses accusing Israeli settlers of using sexual threats and violence against Palestinians in the West Bank as part of efforts to force them out of their land.
According to Palestinian prisoner rights groups, the number of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons has surpassed 9,400 as of early May 2026, including hundreds of detainees from Gaza held without clear charges.
