In exclusive interviews, two Palestinians detained in separate Zionist prisons recount harrowing details of violent sexual assault and how they were raped by Israeli security guards.
As Sami al-Sai was escorted to a clinic inside an Israeli prison, he could hear screaming from nearby rooms. Prisoners were being tortured.
The Palestinian journalist had heard accounts of abuse in Israeli jails before his arrest in February 2024. But nothing, he said, prepared him for what followed. After a brief medical examination, a doctor turned to the guards. Everything is fine.
Take him, he said, al-Sai recalled. Al-Sai was dragged into a separate room, where for nearly an hour he said he was kicked, stamped on, insulted and raped with an object while blindfolded.
Israeli guards watched, laughed and, al-Sai believes, may have filmed the assault. For more than a year, al-Sai told no one what had happened. Months after his release in June, he decided to speak out.
It’s difficult to talk about, he told Middle East Eye. But staying silent is worse. Al-Sai said he felt compelled to tell the world what Palestinian prisoners endure in Israeli jails, adding that the sexual assault he suffered was far from an anomaly.
What I suffered is a drop in the ocean compared with others. It is nothing compared to what I heard from fellow prisoners. Al-Sai is now speaking about his experiences as a prisoner on public platforms and to local media in the West Bank.
But his interview with MEE is the first time he has spoken to international media on camera. MEE is publishing details of his story with his permission.
Another former prisoner, who described how soldiers used a dog to rape him and other instances of violent sexual assault, also agreed to speak on condition of anonymity.
MEE’s reporting adds further weight to widespread serious concerns about Israel’s systematic mistreatment and use of sexual violence against Palestinian prisoners.
Earlier this year, a United Nations inquiry accused Israel of using sexualised torture and rape as a method of war… to destabilize, dominate, oppress and destroy the Palestinian people.
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The Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem has described the Israeli prison system as a network of torture camps within which prisoners were subjected to sexual violence including gang sexual violence and assault committed by a group of prison guards or soldiers.
Last year, Israel’s Channel 12 published a leaked video which appeared to show Israeli soldiers sexually assaulting a Palestinian detainee.
In response to questions from MEE, the Israeli Prison Service said it “categorically rejected” the allegations of abuse described by the prisoners.
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Al-Sai, 44, a father from Tulkarm, has worked for years as a journalist in the occupied West Bank, reporting for Al Jazeera Mubasher and the local broadcaster Al-Fajer TV.
On 23 February 2024, Israeli forces raided his home during an intensive arrest campaign in the West Bank following the October 2023 war on Gaza. He was taken from his home and spent the next 16 months in Israeli custody under administrative detention.
Under the controversial practice, detainees are held without charge or trial based on secret evidence they are not permitted to see.
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After an initial 19 days in military custody, al-Sai was transferred to Megiddo Prison. Upon arrival, he said he was handcuffed and blindfolded. His first stop was the prison clinic. On the way, he could hear screams from other rooms.
Say long live the Israeli flag, he recalls hearing a guard, speaking fluent Arabic, shout at a prisoner. We want to kill you. We want to make you die.
At that moment, I knew I was entering a stage I had never experienced before, said al-Sai, who had been arrested by Israeli forces three times before.
Inside the clinic, guards and medical staff accused him of being a member of Hamas, repeatedly threatening him that they “fuck, fuck, fuck” anyone associated with the group. He denied the accusation.
After an electrocardiogram and a brief examination, the doctor told the guards he was fit.
Al-Sai said he was blindfolded again and escorted by four to six guards, including a woman, through a series of corridors. Doors opened and closed. He was finally thrown to the ground.
At this point, al-Sai said, his trousers and underwear were pulled down, and he was ordered onto his knees. The beating began, with the guards striking him repeatedly on the head, back and legs.
I felt close to death, he said. The pain was overwhelming. But I still didn’t know what they were going to do. Why did they remove my trousers? Moments later, he said, a solid object was forced into his rectum.
I tried to resist. I clenched my body to stop it. That only made the pain worse. Eventually, I surrendered. The object was pushed deeper and twisted deliberately, he said. When he began screaming, a guard squeezed his testicles and pulled his penis.
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The assault lasted about 25 minutes, he estimates. He was held in the room for nearly an hour. Among prisoners, this assault is called the reception party – a violent attack involving sexual violence that many detainees face upon arrival at the prison.
In jail, he and other prisoners faced what he called a system of slow destruction: starvation, dehydration, medical neglect, extreme temperatures, filth and constant provocation.
On 9 July 2024, Israel’s national security minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, visited Ofer Prison, where Salem was being held.
The minister, who was accompanied by two children, gave directions to the guards as they dragged prisoners into the yard and assaulted them with batons, including Salem.
Ben Gvir has made several similar visits to Israeli prisoners, often with a camera crew, where he oversaw abuse and taunted prisoners. MEE has contacted Ben Gvir’s office for comment.
The Israeli Prison Service told MEE that the allegations made by prisoners in this article were unknown to us and do not reflect the conduct of the Prison Service. It added that the IPS operates in accordance with the law and that the rights of detainees are upheld.
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Commenting on al-Sai’s case after he had spoken at a public event in Ramallah earlier this week, Sara Qudah, the regional director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, said:
The allegations of torture and sexual abuse made by Palestinian journalist Sami al-Sai are deeply alarming and tragically consistent with testimonies CPJ has received from other journalists detained in Israeli prisons.
CPJ unequivocally condemns these practices, which point to a troubling and systemic pattern of abuse. These grave allegations demand urgent, independent investigations, full transparency, and accountability for all those responsible.
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Since October 2023, Israeli forces have detained more than 20,000 Palestinians across the West Bank and Gaza. Rights groups and former detainees describe systematic and daily abuse, including beatings, sexual violence, starvation and medical neglect.
Under these conditions, at least 110 prisoners are known to have died in custody since October 2023, though the true number is believed to be higher. About 9,300 Palestinians remain detained.
Despite a ceasefire in Gaza, Palestinian rights groups say abuse inside prisons continues.
That is why al-Sai and Salem say they are speaking out.
We are real people, with real names, Salem said. We are a living testimony for the world to see. They [Israelis] must be held accountable.
Al-Sai agreed. We have seen many lies from this occupation. So we must show the truth. For those who try to ignore our pain, this is what it looks like.
Middle East Eye / ABC Flash Point Blog News 2026.
Any man-woman-child in the World who reads this and is not offended by the actions of the Zionists can not be classed as a human being but as a cold blooded sadist /mental incurable and devoid of any normal human feelings . How can you have pity on a people who stoop so low that they make Hitlers SS look like angels in comparison–if there was any justice in the west the leaders of those countries would rise up and condemn the vile actions taking place in that country from Hell–every leader who turns a blind eye to this is… Read more »
Perfectly described, indeed makes the SS look like Angels compared to the behavior of these stooges.