# Torture during the Gaza war

This page is subject to the extended confirmed restriction related to the Arab-Israeli conflict.
During the Gaza war, Israel has systematically tortured Palestinians detained in its prison system. This torture has been reported by the United Nations, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, as well as Israeli nonprofit human rights organizations such as Physicians for Human Rights Israel and B'Tselem.
Palestinian men, women and children in Gaza and in detainment in Israel in locations such as the Sde Teiman detention camp have been subjected to rape, gang-rape, sexualized torture and mutilation, among other forms of sexual violence, as well as psychological and physical torture by both male and female Israeli soldiers and medical staff.
Some of the victims were United Nations staff forced to confess to terrorism offenses. Multiple reports also speak of prisoners who suffered from medical neglect for injuries sustained, which led to cases of arm and leg amputations. Their testimonies have been corroborated by whistleblowing Israeli staff and a CNN investigation.
As of August 2024, at least 53 Palestinian detainees have died in Israeli military facilities since the beginning of the war. Numerous Palestinian detainees have provided testimony of torture by Israeli forces, including during interrogations, Israeli prison guards also spoke out. There were further reports of the Israeli torture of accused militants.
In response, Shin Bet officials stated they conduct militant interrogations within the Israeli legal framework, under which torture is considered legal under certain circumstances.

## Background

Torture, ill-treatment, and sexual violence of detained Palestinians by Israel, have been reportedly prevalent for years before the 7 October attacks and invasion of Gaza, with documentation recorded by the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI) and Amnesty International. There has been extensive sexual violence against both male and female detainees, with the most notable case of imprisoned Lebanese Amal leader Mustafa Dirani, who sued Israel on the claim of rape. According to the United Nations Convention Against Torture, torture is defined as "any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person" in order to extract information or serve out punishment.

## Reports of Israeli torture

Doctors reported humiliation, beatings, and being forced to kneel for hours. One released man from Shuja'iyya, Gaza City reported beatings, stating that a female Israeli soldier would beat a 72-year-old man. Another stated soldiers forced detainees to bark like dogs. A twenty-year-old man detained in the West Bank stated that he was blindfolded, beaten, burned with a cigarette, and treated "like an animal". Three brothers detained from the Gaza Strip described similar treatment in Israel prison, stating they were beaten, stripped to their underwear, and burnt with cigarettes. One released man stated, "They let dogs urinate on us and shoved sand on us. They threatened to shoot us."
Others described both physical and psychological torture. Five men reported being tortured over ten hours, including being beaten and submerged in cold water. One man stated that Palestinian prisoners were being "tortured relentlessly". He stated the detainees had been starved for three days. In a report by the Ministry of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs, a detainee stated, "I heard the sound of detainees who are getting tortured and beaten, as they are being cursed on by soldiers".

### By NGOs
#### Amnesty International

In November 2023, Amnesty International reported on cases of torture and degrading treatment by Israeli authorities, which it described as "horrifying", "gruesome", and "a particularly chilling public display of torture and humiliation of Palestinian detainees." Amnesty's Secretary General, Agnès Callamard, stated, "Arbitrary detention and torture and other ill-treatment are war crimes when committed against protected persons in an occupied territory." In July 2024, Amnesty interviewed 27 released detainees, who stated they had been subjected to torture on at least one occasion while in Israeli prison.

#### United Nations

The United Nations Human Rights Office in the occupied Palestinian territories called for an investigation into allegations of torture. In a statement, the Office said: "The massive rise in number of Palestinians arrested and detained, the number of reports of ill-treatment and humiliation suffered by those in custody, and the reported failure to adhere to basic due process raise serious questions about Israel's compliance with international humanitarian law and international human rights law." On 19 January 2024, the Human Rights Office stated they had interviewed detainees who "described being beaten, humiliated, subjected to ill-treatment, and to what may amount to torture... consistent with reports our Office has been gathering of the detention of Palestinians on a broad scale." On 19 January 2024, Ajith Sunghay, a Human Rights Office official stated, "There are reports of men who are subsequently released but only in diapers without any adequate clothing in this cold weather."
In March 2024, a UNRWA report reported instances of torture documented in Israeli prisons, including beatings and sexual assault. Some UNRWA employees reported being tortured to extract forced confessions. In an April 2024 report, UNRWA stated, "Male victims reported beatings to their genitals, while one detainee reported being made to sit on an electrical probe." In a July 2024 report, the UN stated that Israel had used dogs and waterboarding on Gazan detainees, and that at least 53 died. A group of United Nations special rapporteurs stated in August 2024 that they had received substantiated reports of "widespread abuse, torture, sexual assault and rape". The experts stated further that survivors reported "being attacked by dogs, waterboarding, suspension from ceilings and severe sexual and gender-based violence."

#### Israeli NGOs

The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI) stated that there was a "lot of evidence of cases of violence and cruel and humiliating treatment by prison guards", and called for an investigation into the deaths of detainees in Israeli custody. PCATI stated they had documented nine clear instances of torture, including sexual violence. Addameer reported that prisoners remained blindfolded and handcuffed during their detention and people were being killed in the military camps. Addameer further reported, "Statistics and documented testimonies from child detainees indicate that the majority of detained children have been subjected to one or more forms of physical and psychological torture." Adalah reported, "We're seeing really widespread and systemic use of many, many tools in order to inflict torture and ill-treatment on Palestinians". In July 2024, the executive director of HaMoked stated, "Violence is pervasive. It's very overcrowded. Every prisoner that we've met with has lost 30 pounds."
On 5 August 2024, B'Tselem released a report finding that Israeli torture of Palestinian detainees was so systemic and institutionalized that it should now be considered state policy. In its report, B'Tselem stated that "every inmate is deliberately subjected to severe, relentless pain and suffering, operate as de-facto torture camps." They further stated that prisoners were subjected to beatings, humiliation, sleep deprivation, and sexual violence. Director Yuli Novak said that Israel was running torture camps, whose conditions the organization blamed on Itamar Ben-Gvir, the minister in charge of Israel's prison system.

#### Human Rights Watch

On 3 January 2024, Human Rights Watch reported that Palestinian workers from Gaza detained in Israel since October 7 had been photographed naked, attacked by dogs, and dragged faced down in the gravel. In August 2024, an HRW report stated that released healthcare workers from Gaza described "humiliation, beatings, forced stress positions, prolonged cuffing and blindfolding, and denial of medical care. They also reported torture, including rape and sexual abuse by Israeli forces, denial of medical care, and poor detention conditions" while in Israel detention. A surgeon detained in Israeli prison stated, "Every minute we were beaten. I mean all over the body, on sensitive areas between the legs, the chest, the back. We were kicked all over the body and the face. They used the front of their boots which had a metal tip, then their weapons."

### Other reports

In a report on allegations of torture in Israeli prisons, Euro-Med Monitor stated prisoners were being treated like animals. The Wall Street Journal found detainees underwent psychological and physical abuse, including beatings during interrogations. The Commission for Detainees' Affairs alleged that prisoners and detainees were subject to bans on going outside, confiscation of belongings, reduction in food, torture and beatings, and deprivation of medical attention by Israeli authorities. A Defence for Children International report included the testimony of an incarcerated child who stated, "Around 18 children were severely beaten, screaming in pain. I saw police dogs attacking them, bleeding from the mouth and head." An additional Defence for Children report stated that the Israeli military was "systematically detaining and torturing" Palestinian children from Gaza.
In December 2023, the New York Times reported that Israel had interrogated medical personnel in Gaza under duress. Gaza's Ministry of Health similarly stated that Israeli interrogations of hospital staff were conducted "under duress". Following reports on the physical and psychological abuse of Marwan Barghouti, the U.S. Department of State requested Israel to "thoroughly and transparently investigate credible allegations of and ensure accountability for any abuses or violations". In a letter to Israel's attorney general, a doctor at an Israeli field hospital for detained Palestinians stated, "Inmates are fed through straws, defecate in diapers and are held [in] constant restraints, which violate medical ethics and the law."
In May 2024, an employee of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit stated she had been subject to beatings and abusive treatment in Israeli prison. The Commission for Detainees' Affairs stated that doctors at the Ramon prison were neglecting the medical needs of Palestinian detainees. In June 2024, a Palestinian man stated he had been tortured after being held for a month with no charges. The same month, the family of a mentally unwell man stated he was tortured during Israeli custody. Save the Children released a report stating, "Children are also among those recently found in mass graves, according to UN experts, with many showing signs of torture and summary executions".
In July 2024, a Palestinian man from Gaza stated he experienced "severe torture" in Israeli prison, stating, "The beatings focused on sensitive body parts. Female soldiers stomped on our heads with their metal-toed boots." The same month, the director of Al-Shifa Hospital was released from Israeli prison, stating also that Palestinian detainees experienced "almost daily torture" and abuse. Following his release from Israeli prison, a Palestinian detainee from Bethlehem stated, "We were unjustly detained, killed and severely beaten with iron clubs and subjected to all kinds of torture". A man detained from Gaza stated, "For 55 days, I was handcuffed, blindfolded, deprived from sleeping, no rest, even food they brought us was for animals... They dealt with us as non-humans". One man stated that before interrogations, he was kept in a room where bright lights and blaring music were used all day and night, stating, "I would stay there two or three days, the music didn't stop, not even for a second. It hurt me mentally". Eight detainees released from Israeli prison in late-July stated they were tortured during their imprisonment.
A released prisoner stated, "There are people who have gone mad and urinate on themselves... They screamed. At night they used to bring dogs, pepper spray, and electrocute us. Every night. Whatever comes to your mind was done." In August 2024, the Palestinian Ministry of Prisoners and Freed Prisoners stated a 26-year-old detainee died in Israeli prison from severe torture. Detainees released from Israeli prisons described worsening abuse, stating they were experiencing frequent beatings and a lack of basic rations. Speaking to the Commission of Detainees' Affairs, a released detainee stated, "We were stripped of our clothes, intensively beaten, tortured and assaulted. They shackled our hands and feet and blindfolded our eyes. We were turned into prey to these monsters, who enjoyed our hunger, thirst, screams and illnesses". In September 2024, +972 Magazine reported the spread of scabies among prisoners, with a dermatologist stating that "scabies can be effectively treated, but containing the outbreak requires sanitary living conditions. The failure of the IPS to do so suggests that the spread of the disease among prisoners has become, in effect, a part of their punishment".

### Posted to social media

Videos posted to social media, appearing to show IDF troops subjecting Palestinian detainees to physical, sexual and verbal abuse. One such video was posted at around 31 October and showed a group of Palestinian men blindfolded with their hands and feet bound and mostly stripped naked being physically assaulted by uniformed IDF soldiers. The soldiers involved were reportedly being investigated by IDF officials, per a later statement. A Palestinian woman recounted that about 30 minutes after her husband was arrested by IDF troops she was sent a link to a video on social media, depicting her husband in IDF custody bound and kneeling before a soldier who can be heard yelling expletives in Arabic while kicking him in the stomach.
In a Telegram group created after the 7 October attacks, by the IDF Influencing Department and had over 10,500 subscribers as of December 2023, videos of Palestinians being degraded and mocked with dehumanizing language. In one video two Palestinian men are defaced to be made to look like pigs with the caption exclaiming: "Here we see the al-Qawsami brothers, who we are sure their mother (who probably conceived them with her brother) is very proud of her breathtaking two roaches."

## Torture of United Nations staff

According to February 2024 UNRWA report, Israeli officials detained and tortured UN staff, coercing them into falsely stating that agency staff had participated in the 7 October attack. The allegations of torture came from staff who stated they were forced to make confessions under torture and ill-treatment, including "beatings, sleep deprivation, sexual abuse and threats of sexual violence against both men and women" in Israeli detention. Detainees reported being stripped down to their underwear and forced completely naked. The report found that UN staff were "pressured to make false statements against the Agency, including that the Agency has affiliations with Hamas and that UNRWA staff members took part in the 7 October 2023 atrocities" through beatings, waterboarding, and threats to their families.
In a statement, the UNRWA communications director stated, "When the war comes to an end there needs to be a series of inquiries to look into all violations of human rights". The Israel Defense Forces stated it was investigating "complaints of inappropriate behavior".
In response to the report, the World Organisation Against Torture condemned Israel, stating, "Both torture and the use of any such information violates the UN Convention Against Torture".

## Sde Teiman detention camp
### Torture

An Amnesty International report released in July 2024 included accounts of abuse from Sde Teiman detainees that were consistent with earlier reports. Amnesty interviewed a 14-year-old child who stated that interrogators had beaten him, burned him with cigarettes, and kept him blindfolded and handcuffed.
In May 2024, three anonymous Israeli employees of the camp spoke to CNN as whistleblowers, during which they corroborated and expanded upon reports of abuse and poor conditions revealed by multiple detainees who were later released. The whistleblowers detailed enclosures where detainees are blindfolded and not allowed to speak or move. Images leaked to CNN show rows of men wearing gray tracksuits with blindfolds, each sitting on an exceptionally thin mattress, surrounded by a barbed-wire fence.
Punishments include beatings and for prisoners to raise their hands in a stress position, sometimes zip-tied to a fence, for upwards of an hour. In what one released detainee called "the nightly torture," guards would conduct routine searches with dogs and sound grenades while prisoners were sleeping. The detainees are reportedly kept on a diet of one cucumber, some slices of bread and a cup of cheese a day.

### Sexual abuse and rape

Several Palestinian prisoners since returned to Gaza reported to UNWRA and the New York Times that a metal stick was used to inflict injury by penetrating the anus of detainees under interrogation and multiple prisoners reported the use of electric shocks, sometimes being forced to "sit in a chair wired with electricity".
On 29 July 2024, the Israeli military police detained nine Israeli soldiers for questioning as part of an investigation of a suspected abuse of a Palestinian prisoner, whom The Times of Israel reported "signs of serious abuse, including to his anus". In response, far-right politicians, including Heritage Minister Amichay Eliyahu and Knesset Member Zvi Sukkot urged their supporters to protest at Sde Teiman against the nine soldiers' detention. Sukkot, Eliyahu, and Knesset Member Nissim Vaturi joined other right-wingers in illegally breaking into Sde Teiman, while hours later the Israeli military's Beit Lid base was also broken into by far-right activists as the nine soldiers were being detained there.
Various right-wing politicians have condemned the Israeli soldiers' detention: Justice Minister Yariv Levin said that "harsh pictures of soldiers being arrested" were "impossible to accept"; National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said that the soldiers' detention was "shameful" and asked for "the military authorities to back the fighters … Soldiers need to have our full support"; Economy Minister Nir Barkat declared: "I support our fighters", while criticizing the events as a "show trial"; Transportation Minister Miri Regev commented that the arrests of Israeli soldiers were "dangerous" during war, and warned against military prosecutions that were "appeasing our enemies". Separately, Knesset Member Hanoch Milwidsky argued in the Knesset that it is permissible to sexually abuse Hamas commandos of the Nukhba: "…everything is legitimate to do. Everything."
Ibrahim Salem, featured in one of the first photos leaked from the detention camp, was held there for 52 days without charge and released in early August 2024. He reported widespread torture, including by medical staff, as well as electrocution during interrogations, sexual abuse, constant beatings, forced stripping, genital grabbing, and frequent occurrences of rape and gang-rape committed by both male and female soldiers. Children were also subjected to rape. In one instance, a prisoner in his 40s was handcuffed and forced to bend over a desk while a female soldier inserted her fingers and other objects into his rectum. If the prisoner moved, a male soldier positioned in front of him would beat him and compel him to remain in that position. According to Salem, "Most of the prisoners will come out with rectal injuries [caused by the gang-rape]." A doctor at Sde Teiman who examined a detainee who suffered sexual abuse stated, "I couldn't believe an Israeli prison guard could do such a thing". A surveillance video leaked in August 2024 apparently showed Israeli soldiers sexually assaulting a detainee.
Walid Khalili, a Palestinian Medical Relief Society paramedic and ambulance driver detained in Sde Teiman for 20 days without charge, described severe mistreatment by Israeli soldiers. Transferred from Tel al-Hawa to the detention camp, he was forced to wear a diaper and placed in a large warehouse-like building with chains hanging from the ceiling. Detainees, also in diapers, were suspended from chains attached to metal handcuffs. Khalili described being chained, electrocuted while wearing a garment and headband connected to wires, and subjected to beatings. He recounted, "The world was spinning around, and I fainted. They hit me with batons... With every question I was electro-shocked to wake me up. He told me confess and we will stop torturing you." He endured electric shocks every other day, stress positions, and cold water dousing. Before interrogations, he was given an unknown drug that caused hallucinations and disorientation. He reported that an interrogator fluent in Arabic questioned him about hostages, threatened harm to his family if he did not confess, and "told me how many children I have, all their names, my address." He received no medical care despite having broken ribs, witnessed a detainee's leg being amputated due to shackling, and saw another detainee die from what appeared to be cardiac arrest.

### Healthcare workers

Palestinian healthcare workers in the Gaza Strip had been arbitrarily detained by the Israeli military during their raids on hospitals during the war, and transferred to detention centers in Israel's south, including Sde Teiman. Human Rights Watch has documented several of these cases, in which detained health workers were beaten, stripped, handcuffed weeks on end, and subject to torture and sexual violence, as well as threats of rape and killing of their Gaza family members.

### Lawyer visits

Khaled Mahajneh, a lawyer who visited the detention center, stated that the conditions were "more horrific than anything we’ve heard about Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo." He stated that he went to the detention center seeking information on a reporter named Muhammad Arab from Al Araby TV who had been detained while covering the Al-Shifa Hospital siege. Khaled described the reporter as being "unrecongnizable", and said that he had testified of prisoners being routinely abused, of guards openly sexually assaulting prisoners, and of multiple prisoners having died from torture.

### Field hospitals

In April 2024, Haaretz obtained a letter written by a doctor at a field hospital at Sde Teiman to Israel's attorney general, defense minister, and health minister. The doctor wrote that "inmates are fed through straws, defecate in diapers and are held [in] constant restraints, which violate medical ethics and the law." The doctor alleged that understaffing and inadequate care led to complications and deaths, describing amputations due to handcuff injuries as "routine." A separate medical source who visited Sde Teiman corroborated the letter to CNN. The source also characterized systemic dehumanizing of detainees, alleging that officials are told not to use prisoners' names but rather their serial numbers.

## Torture of militants during interrogation

Numerous Palestinian detainees have reported torture during interrogations by Israeli forces, which has raised significant alarm among international human rights groups such as Amnesty International. One detainee told Amnesty that Israeli interrogators beat him severely, resulting in three broken ribs, and ordered Palestinian detainees to "praise Israel and curse Hamas". Dr. Shai Gortler, who studies incarceration and torture, stated that Shin Bet allows media exposure "to put forward its own narrative about its actions, torture included", among other reasons.
The Associated Press analyzed six interrogation videos released by Israel and said the militants may have been speaking under duress. In the videos, the militants appear to be bloodied and wincing in pain. Likewise, on 29 October, an article in Global News said some of the confession videos of Hamas militants could have been produced under duress. AP additionally found that a confession video Israel released showed the captured militant was speaking "clearly under duress".
Public Committee Against Torture in Israel stated Shin Bet uses extreme heat and cold, sleep deprivation and stress positions during interrogations. In an analysis, NBC News stated that in one of the confession videos, the militant had blood on his shirt and bruises on his face, which Israel stated came from capture in combat. In November 2023, a Palestinian man (accused by Israel to be a militant) was released as part of the prisoner exchange and said he was repeatedly asked by Israeli soldiers to make confessions with "a gun to his face".

## War crimes

Video evidence surfaced of what was described as a "flagrant violation of international laws related to the protection of civilians" by Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor. Israeli soldiers were shown surrounding detainees in Yatta, Hebron who were being dragged and assaulted by the Israeli soldiers. Many of the detainees had been stripped naked, having both their arms and feet bound, and beaten with the butts of rifles and trampled. Video evidence depicting degradation towards detainees shows Israeli soldiers transporting Palestinians from Ofer prison, all of whom are blindfolded and stripped completely naked. In another video uploaded by an Israeli soldier, a blindfolded and bound Palestinian is shown kneeling on the ground. The soldier taunts him in Arabic, telling him "صباح الخير يا قحبة" (Good morning, whore) before repeatedly kicking and spitting on him. In December 2023, Human Rights Watch director Omar Shakir stated the blindfolding and stripping of Palestinian detainees represented a war crime.
In December 2023, Amnesty International called for an investigation into mass detentions, disappearances, inhumane treatment, and detainee deaths. In February 2024, the BBC published a report detailing documented instances of Israeli soldiers abusing and humiliating Palestinian detainees, which Mark Ellis, an expert on international criminal tribunals, said showed possible violations of laws regarding prisoners of war. After the IDF dismissed one of the reservists shown in the video, Sir Geoffrey Nice, an expert on war crimes, stated a wider investigation was needed beyond the dismissal. In March 2024, the United Nations stated that Israel had detained and tortured its employees in Gaza, extracting forced confessions. A Bellingcat analysis found instances of a collection of images and videos showing the IDF degrading Palestinian detainees, which Queen’s University Belfast war crimes professor Luke Moffett stated showed potential war crimes.

## Israeli explanations

In November 2023, Shin Bet said they have conducted interrogations under strict legal frameworks, aiming to gather confessions and intelligence for immediate and future use. The interrogation settings, as reported, were intense, with the suspects often bound and held in improvised facilities. They cited a 1999 Israeli Supreme Court ruling that prohibited torture except for a "ticking bomb" scenario.

## Reactions

Following the death of Adnan al-Bursh, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, Addameer, Al Mezan, and Al-Haq released a joint statement calling for "immediate and concrete action" by the international community to ensure investigative access into Israeli prisons. In May 2024, Addameer called on the International Criminal Court to investigate Israel's "systematic torture" of Palestinians as a war crime. Basil Farraj, a professor at Birzeit University, stated, "We are now talking about an intensification of the torture practices, including systematic medical negligence and systematic starvation." Alice Jill Edwards, the UN special rapporteur on torture, called on Israel to allow "access to international human rights and humanitarian observers". Former Guantanamo Bay detainees compared images they were seeing from Israel to their experiences in Guantanamo. An attorney who visited the Sde Teiman detention center in June 2024 stated, "The situation there is more horrific than anything we've heard about Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo." In July 2024, the UN human rights office stated the abuse and torture of Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons was "unacceptable" and called for an independent investigation.