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 7 October 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 7 October 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 in Megiddo prison, he claims that guards partially stripped him and raped him with a baton. There were five or six of them, he recalled. They were laughing and enjoying it... I was hoping to die and be done from that, as the pain was not only caused by the rape, but also from the severe and painful beating.
Ahmed, another former detainee, alleged that he was sexually humiliated during his time in custody, further illustrating the grim conditions that Palestinians face in Israeli prisons. As reports of abuse continue to mount, the situation for Palestinian detainees becomes increasingly precarious.
The latest revelations have sparked outrage and called into question the practices within Israeli detention facilities, leading to a wider discourse on human rights in the region.
