The testimonies below include descriptions of rape and other forms of sexual violence.
⚠️ Content Warning: Sexual Violence
The testimonies below include descriptions of rape and other forms of sexual violence.
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“Living Hell” follows on B’Tselem’s August 2024 report “Welcome to Hell.” Building on the extensive research and analysis carried out for the previous report, it provides updated figures and new testimonies from 21 Palestinians released from Israeli prisons in recent months, and draws on data from other Israeli and international human rights organizations. The updated information indicates that Israeli prisons continue to function as a network of torture camps for Palestinians, with the systematic abuse even more extensive than before. This includes physical and psychological abuse, inhuman conditions, deliberate starvation and denial of medical care, all of which has led to numerous deaths. Some witnesses also described undergoing or witnessing sexual violence and abuse. The transformation of prisons into a network of torture camps is part of the Israeli regime’s coordinated onslaught on Palestinian society, aimed at dismantling the Palestinian collective.
Download report "Living Hell"
View previous report: "Welcome to Hell", August 2024
List of Palestinians who died in Israeli custody since 7 October 2023
“ During the torture, one of the soldiers raped me. He shoved a wooden stick up my anus, left it there for about a minute, and pulled it out. Then he shoved it back in, even harder, and I screamed at the top of my lungs. After a minute, he pulled the stick out again, told me to open my mouth, pushed the stick into my mouth and forced me to lick it. I was flooded with feelings of injustice and humiliation. ”
Tamer Qarmut | 41
Beit Lahiya, Gaza Strip
Held in:
Sde Teiman
Negev (Ketziot)
“ The IPS men dragged me to a place where it was hard to breathe. I was so exhausted that I threw myself face down on the floor, and they started beating me again. One of them sat on my back, another trod on my head, and the third tried to push something hard into my anus. I tried to clench my muscles and resist, but they managed to push it in. ”
Sami a-Sa’i | 46
Tulkarm, West Bank
Held in:
Megiddo
Ramon
“ At Sde Teiman, I went through the hardest days of my life. I’m still suffering from severe trauma. They held me naked, and soldiers set dogs on me that attacked me. They beat me on the penis, tied it with a plastic cord and caused swelling and bleeding. One detainee lost a testicle as a result of the torture. […] About 200 people, myself included, got scabies and scratched ourselves until we bled. When we asked for treatment, they told us: “You haven’t seen anything yet.” […] the doctor also beat us. There were also cases in which prisoners’ teeth were broken. ”
S.S.
Held in:
Negev (Ketziot)
Sde Teiman
Ofer
“ Then they ordered me to take off my boxer shorts, and I was left completely naked in front of the female soldiers. They searched me very thoroughly using a scanning device. [...] They blindfolded me again, tied my hands and took me somewhere else; I didn’t understand where we were. There, they beat me with batons or sticks for a long time. Out of desperation, I tried to push the blows away and fight back at the soldier, but I couldn’t. Just then, they gave me a heavy blow and I felt one of my ribs break. From there they transferred me to another place, this time in an armored vehicle. I understood the place was called “al-Kalabat”: they threw me on the ground and dogs started stepping on me and attacking some of the other detainees. ”
Ibrahim Fuda | 35
Beit Lahiya, Gaza Strip
Held in:
Negev (Ketziot)
“ The soldiers arrested me and took me naked to a nearby building the military had seized and turned into a military post. They tied my hands, covered my eyes with a piece of cloth, and left me naked. I was kept in this building for three days, during which I was interrogated under torture. An army officer questioned me about Hamas leaders, tunnels and weapons. During the interrogation, the soldiers put out cigarettes on my body, poured hydrochloric acid on me, and burned my back with a lighter. Because of the burns, I lost sight in my left eye. ”
Muhammad Abu Tawilah | 35
Gaza, Gaza Strip
Held in:
Ofer
Ramla
“ Inside the pit, the soldiers beat us with their weapons and swore at us. We thought we were going to die in that pit. Then I heard jeeps moving. We were about 30 detainees, and they threw us into two military jeeps. That was when the torture began. During the whole drive, they beat us badly until we reached Karam Abu Salem. When we got there, we were surprised to see, in addition to the soldiers, Israelis in civilian clothes. They took us out of the jeeps and kicked us while they did so. They opened the zipper of our coveralls and threw us on the ground face down, with our bellies exposed, and then beat and cursed us. ”
Muhammad Saleh Suliman al-Mishwakhi | 45
Rafah, Gaza Strip
Held in:
Sde Teiman
Negev (Ketziot)
“ The last suppression action I experienced was three days before my release. They ordered us to lie face down and brought in very big, frightening dogs the size of sheep. They ordered two detainees to go outside. One of them was a mental health professional. When they came back, they told us that outside, the soldiers had stripped them and made a large dog climb on them and stand on their chests. The Israeli military was especially interested in humiliating doctors and medical professionals from hospitals in the north. ”
Saed al-Khatib | 42
Jabalya R.C., Gaza Strip
Held in:
Sde Teiman
“ I woke up and found myself lying in a large pool of blood. I was shocked. I looked at my feet and saw that they were bleeding. It was a horrific sight, and I started screaming and crying hysterically, hoping someone would come to help me. I was taken to the prison hospital. […] A doctor in uniform told me: “Listen, your life is in danger. You have to choose between having both your legs amputated and dying.” I started crying and screaming, hoping someone would hear my pain, my torment, my grief. They handed me a document and forced me to sign that I agree to have both legs amputated. ”
Jibril a-Safadi | 45
Khan Yunis, Gaza Strip
Held in:
Sde Teiman
Ofer
Nafha
“ Various IPS units attacked us often, with no justification, out of a desire to harm us and take revenge. I clearly remember the painful incident in which an inmate called ‘Abd a-Rahman Mar’i, from the village of Qarawat Bani Hassan, was killed in prison. I heard the guards beating him. He was in the cell next to mine and shouted for my help. He begged and said he was dying, but I was locked in my cell and couldn’t help him. I could only try to say things to calm him. Later I saw IPS people carrying a body bag, and I understood he died following the attack. ”
W.B.
Held in:
Kishon
Megiddo
Nafha
Ramla
Ramon
“ They soldiers dragged me along the ground and put me in a narrow cell, like a coffin. One of them said to me: “We’re going to leave you in this coffin until you die, son of a bitch.” I was terrified and thought they were going to kill me. I stayed locked in that coffin for several days, completely isolated, without food and with almost no water. Every time I shouted and begged for water or food, the soldiers opened the door, beat me hard and shut it again. When I needed the bathroom, I called out to the soldiers, but they ignored me. I tried to hold it in, but in the end I was forced to wet myself. The soldiers opened the coffin from time to time just to see if I was still alive. ”
Mahmoud Abu Ful | 26
Beit Lahiya, Gaza Strip
Held in:
Sde Teiman
Ofer
Negev (Ketziot)
“ They tried to scare us and break our spirits all the time. Twice a week, they carried out suppression operations: they threw stun grenades into the cells, injured detainees, forced us to kneel with our hands on our heads, and swore at us. The soldiers made me a “shawish,” in charge of the other detainees, and ordered me to slap them. They told me, “If you don’t beat the detainees, we’ll beat you.” When I slapped the detainees, I apologized to them. The soldiers beat me and cursed me anyway. Those were the hardest days of my life. They showed no mercy or compassion towards any of us. ”
Haitham Salem | 31
Beit Lahiya, Gaza Strip
Held in:
Sde Teiman
Ofer
Negev (Ketziot)
“ The Metzada Unit attacked me and I was injured by a rubber bullet. I was sent to hospital for 15 days, and on the way there they beat me. They questioned me again about Hamas, about the hostages, and about booby-trapped houses. They threatened that if I didn’t give them information, they would arrest and rape my wife and my mother. I was badly beaten and humiliated almost every day. Sometimes they showed us a black body bag and said: “This is the only way you’ll leave this place,” and again demanded that we’d given them the locations of Hamas and of tunnels – things we had nothing to do with. ”
Hayel al-Kurd | 40
Jabalya R.C., Gaza Strip
Held in:
Sde Teiman
Negev (Ketziot)
“ The soldiers grabbed me, lifted me up by my arms and hung me in the “shabah” position, with chains, in the middle of the interrogation room. They brought a dildo and put it under my buttocks, and then began lowering the chain while holding me, until part of the dildo entered my anus. It was the worst pain I’d ever experienced. I started screaming and sobbing. That was the cruelest, harshest torture I went through during my entire detention in Israel. ”
Muhammad Khader | 36
Beit Hanoun, Gaza Strip
Held in:
Sde Teiman
Ramla
Negev (Ketziot)
“ There were an officer and a soldier there, and they ordered me to take off all my clothes and put on a diaper. Then, they tied my hands behind my back, blindfolded me and hung me up on a Blanco hoist, the kind butchers use to lift sheep after they’re slaughtered. They left me hanging there for almost 10 hours in a row. My shoulders and wrists hurt badly. They hung another guy I know next to me, in the same way. They hit us while we were hanging there, mainly in the chest area. Every blow made me feel like my soul was leaving my body, it was so painful. ”
Nassim a-Radi | 34
Beit Lahiya, Gaza Strip
Held in:
Sde Teiman
Kishon
Megiddo
Ofer
Nafha
Ramon
Negev (Ketziot)
“ [They] ordered me to strip completely and forced me to bend down and straighten up several times. There were several people in the room whom I think were from the Keter Unit. [...] There were also female soldiers there, even though I was naked. One of them touched my testicles several times, and other parts of my body [...]. The guard ran a metal detector over me, pressed it against my anus and pulled on my testicles [...]. Female soldiers held my testicles and penis and said, “I’m going to rape you.” They squeezed my testicles and I screamed in pain. ”
J.M.
Held in:
Etzion facility
Ofer
Negev (Ketziot)
Ramla
Nafha
“ There were five interrogators, and they tightened my handcuffs so much that I lost feeling in my hands. They tied my legs to a chair in a “banana” position. All the soldiers in the room attacked me and beat me on my back, chest, legs and even my testicles. I thought my bladder would explode. I screamed and told them I had to pee. They ordered two guards to take me to the bathroom. When I got there, I was too shocked to pee. When I finally managed to, there was a lot of blood in my urine. ”
Hussein a-Zweidi | 25
Beit Hanoun, Gaza Strip
Held in:
Sde Teiman
Ashkelon
Nafha
Negev (Ketziot)
“ The conditions at Ofer Prison were even harder than at Sde Teiman: insults, beatings, humiliation, degradation, kneeling for a long time with our hands over our heads. I felt like a slave. I was interrogated by a Shin Bet officer. On the way to the interrogation, the soldiers beat me brutally. The interrogator said his name was “Captain Hell.” It really was hell. He would say to us, “Welcome to hell.” ”
Muhammad a-Ramlawi | 30
Jabalya R.C., Gaza Strip
Held in:
Sde Teiman
Ofer
“ For the first 40 days, I was held in solitary confinement. After that, they transferred me to a dark cell with no light coming in. There were nine other detainees in the cell, all from the Gaza Strip. They told me they had been there for almost nine months. A few days after I was brought there, about 15 members of a special IPS unit burst into the cell. Without any warning, they sprayed us with pepper spray, beat us with batons and sticks and punched us with hard gloves. In that attack, they broke two of my ribs and caused a deep cut under my right eye, a cut above my left eyebrow and bleeding from my ear. When I collapsed to the floor, one of them pressed his hand down on my head and face. ”
M.A.
Held in:
Kishon
Nafha
Megiddo
Hasharon
Ramla
Israel’s regime of apartheid and occupation is inextricably bound up in human rights violations. B’Tselem strives to end this regime, as that is the only way forward to a future in which human rights, democracy, liberty and equality are ensured to all people, both Palestinian and Israeli, living between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.
Since the Hamas attack on 7 October 2023, Israel has acted in a coordinated and deliberate manner to destroy Palestinian society in the Gaza Strip, committing genocide against its residents. In light of Israel’s actions in Gaza, the public statements made by Israeli decision-makers, and the international community’s failure to take effective action, there is a serious risk that the Israeli regime will expand the genocide to other areas under its control—first and foremost, the West Bank.
B’Tselem calls on the Israeli public and the international community to use every tool available under international law to bring an immediate end to Israel’s genocide against the Palestinian people.
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