What is Happening in Israeli Prisons? Detainees Allege Systemic Torture and Abuse

Breaking social taboos and ignoring official warnings, Sami al-Saei decided he couldn't stay silent any longer. The 47-year-old father of six took to TikTok to share his story, telling a massive audience he had a “moral responsibility to say what happened to me and other prisoners” inside an Israeli prison.

He describes hearing his attackers—a group of Israeli prison guards—laughing as they sexually tortured him for over 20 minutes. The assault happened in February 2024, not long after he was detained. When they were done, they left him blindfolded and handcuffed on the floor to take a cigarette break. He even heard one guard tell the others, “don’t take a photo,” a chilling admission that they knew exactly what they were doing.

Al-Saei says he was beaten on his buttocks, a guard crushed his genitals, and he was anally penetrated with two different objects. “I tried to prevent them by clenching my muscles (in my anus), but I could not,” he said in an interview. “They forced it in very deep, it was extremely painful. I don’t know how loudly I screamed from the pain.” The agony was so intense that he collapsed twice when they ordered him to stand up. For more than three weeks, he bled from his rectum, using toilet paper to manage the bleeding in his overcrowded cell without any medical attention. He was held without charge or trial until his release in June 2025.

His story, however, is far from an isolated one. A new report released Tuesday by the human rights group B’Tselem details what it calls a “grave pattern of sexual violence in detention facilities and prisons.” The abuse it documents is extensive, ranging from threats and forced stripping to brutal sexual assaults. These include beatings to the genitals, setting dogs on prisoners, and being raped with objects.

An Israeli prison service spokesperson “categorically rejects the false allegations” in the report, claiming to be “not aware of the claims described” by al-Saei and others. The spokesperson insisted that all inmates are held lawfully and that their rights, including access to medical care, are respected.

But other testimonies paint a different picture. Tamer Qarmut, 41, was detained in November 2023 from a hospital in northern Gaza. Though he was disabled from a leg injury he sustained as a teenager, he was accused of being a militant. Qarmut testified that he was beaten so badly he suffered permanent hearing damage, was attacked by a dog, and was then raped by a soldier. “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,” Qarmut stated. He was held for nearly two years without being charged before he was finally released last October.

According to B’Tselem, Israeli detention centers changed dramatically after October 7, 2023. The group argues they were transformed into a network “dedicated to the abuse of inmates as policy,” where torture became an “accepted norm.” Yuli Novak, B’Tselem’s executive director, put it bluntly: “The Israeli regime has turned its prisons into a network of torture camps for Palestinians.”

This abuse isn't happening in the shadows. The report claims it’s often supported by politicians, reported with approval in local media, and has become normalized among the Israeli public. In a telling example from 2024, military prosecutors charged several soldiers with a violent rape at the Sde Teiman detention center. But instead of public outcry over the attack, government members voiced support for the suspects. A leaked video of the assault did little to change public opinion, and the chief military lawyer who pursued the case ended up resigning and being arrested. In that period, only one soldier has been convicted for abusing Palestinian prisoners.

Beyond the sexual violence, the report details other forms of torture like electric shocks, teargas, stun grenades, and guards burning prisoners with cigarettes and boiling liquids. Medical care is also routinely denied, leading to irreversible harm like amputations and, in some cases, death. Since October 7, 2023, at least 98 Palestinians have died in Israeli jails, though the real number is likely much higher.

Many who died were young and healthy. Abdul Rahman Mirie, a 34-year-old carpenter with four children, was detained in February 2023 and died that November. Held without charge, he was likely beaten to death. Other prisoners told his mother, Aziza, they heard him crying out, “Brother, come help me, I’m being tortured.” His family can’t even hold a burial, because Israel is holding his body.

By January, Israel was detaining an estimated 9,000 Palestinians, with about half held indefinitely without charge or trial. Prisoners describe inhuman living conditions, with starvation rations, severe overcrowding, and a lack of basic hygiene. To make matters worse, visits from the International Committee of the Red Cross have been stopped since October 2023, cutting prisoners off from their families and the outside world.

For speaking out, al-Saei has been ostracized and is struggling to find work. Still, he doesn’t regret his choice. He says he saw evidence that many others in the overcrowded cells had suffered similar assaults. “It was my choice,” he affirmed, giving a voice to those still suffering in silence.