Sexual violence in Israeli prisons A systematic policy to break the Palestinians

Violations within Israeli prisons are not new in the context of the ongoing conflict, but what has been revealed since October 7, 2023, indicates a qualitative shift in the nature of these violations. Among these, sexual violence has emerged as part of a recurring, widespread pattern bearing the hallmarks of organization and planning.

This shift is evident not only in the scale of the incidents but also in their structure. The use of the body as a space for punishment intersects with a closed detention environment that allows for the intensification and perpetuation of violations beyond any effective oversight. This raises a fundamental question: is this a matter of individual transgressions or a policy taking shape within a broader system?

The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor issued a report today, Sunday, entitled “Another Genocide Behind the Walls,” which provides initial material for understanding this shift. The report documents recurring patterns of sexual violence, including direct rape, assault with objects, forced nudity accompanied by verbal and physical humiliation, and the presence of multiple security personnel during or the recording of these assaults with audio and video.

The repetition of these patterns across separate testimonies and in different detention facilities does not leave them within the framework of individual incidents, but rather pushes towards reading them as a productive pattern within an institutional environment where violence becomes a repetitive practice and not a passing exception.

In one of the testimonies collected by the documentation team, a 43-year-old former detainee recounts the details of repeated sexual assaults he endured during interrogation. The incidents were not isolated moments but rather a series of prolonged events involving beatings, filming, and mockery, all in the presence of multiple security personnel.

Wajdi, who spent a full year in detention, says he was subjected to direct and repeated rape