The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) has released a report documenting systematic sexual violence and torture committed by Israeli forces against Palestinian detainees, including women and men from the Gaza Strip.
According to the center, the report is based on testimonies collected by lawyers and researchers from Palestinians recently released from Israeli detention facilities and military camps. The findings describe a pattern of sexual assault, physical and psychological torture, and deliberate humiliation, allegedly carried out in a “planned and organized manner.”
The PCHR said the testimonies indicate that these violations are not isolated incidents but rather part of a “collective punishment policy” implemented by Israeli authorities amid the ongoing crime of genocide against the population of Gaza.
The organisation added that the abuses occurred in facilities closed to international oversight, including those to which the International Committee of the Red Cross has not been granted access.
In one of the documented accounts, a former female detainee described enduring severe sexual and physical assault while in custody. The PCHR said her experience exemplifies the broader pattern of violations faced by detainees in Israeli prisons and detention camps since the escalation of the war in Gaza.
The rights group called for an independent international investigation into the allegations, urging the United Nations and the International Criminal Court to act “to stop systematic crimes against detainees and hold perpetrators accountable.”
Israeli authorities have not publicly responded to the report. In the past, Israel has denied allegations of systematic torture or sexual abuse of detainees, asserting that all interrogations and detentions are conducted in accordance with the law.