‘They Were Laughing’: Al Jazeera Documentary Exposes Alleged Widespread Rape and Torture of Palestinian Prisoners by Israel

Warning: This article contains descriptions of sexual assault that some readers may find disturbing.

June 9, 2026 – A new Al Jazeera documentary investigation has presented detailed testimonies from former Palestinian prisoners alleging that Israeli forces have engaged in the widespread and systematic use of rape, sexual torture, and other forms of sexual violence against detainees since the start of the Gaza war.

The film, titled “Bodies of Evidence: Israel’s Darkest Weapon,” features accounts from multiple survivors who describe being stripped, blindfolded, handcuffed, and raped by soldiers while guards laughed and filmed the attacks. Some allege that trained dogs were also used to sexually assault prisoners.

Survivor Testimonies: ‘We were shouting, but they were laughing’

Muhammad al-Bakri, a Gaza civil servant, told Al Jazeera he remembers the exact date of his rape: April 10, 2024, during the Eid al-Fitr holiday. He had been arrested a month earlier and subjected to repeated beatings and torture.

Al-Bakri said he was held with seven other prisoners. All were stripped, blindfolded, and handcuffed.

“We were raped after being stripped of our clothes. We were shouting, ‘Oh Lord, oh God’, but they were just laughing and filming us.”

He said guards used dogs to assault them, adding: “The dogs were following commands from the officers to [attack] us. There was no mercy.”

Another survivor, identified only as “Job” to protect his identity, described being raped by female soldiers using artificial objects while male soldiers applauded and filmed.

“Female soldiers entered my room. They put iron handcuffs on my hands behind me. Then they stripped me of my clothes.”

Job said he was pinned to the ground with boots on his back and neck during the assault.

Systematic Pattern, Not Isolated Incidents

The documentary cites multiple international bodies that have concluded the abuse is not accidental but systematic:

• A UN report published in March 2025 found evidence of the “systematic” use of sexual, reproductive, and other forms of gender-based violence by Israel since October 7, 2023.
• In May 2025, Israel was added to the UN “blacklist” of parties that commit sexual violence in conflict zones.
• Rights groups including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, B’Tselem, and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) have all documented pervasive sexual violence within Israeli forces against Palestinian prisoners.

Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, told Al Jazeera:

“Brutality has escalated to an unprecedented level. It became vindictive. Torture, especially rape and other forms of sexual torture, destroys the mind of the person, especially in the capacity to rebuild or enjoy his or her intimacy.”

She added that common practices include severe beatings, burning, broken bones, broken teeth, and sexual penetration using metal rods, knives, bottles, and metal detectors.

Impunity: No Convictions, Charges Dropped

Despite mounting allegations, no Israeli soldier or guard has ever been convicted of sexually abusing a Palestinian prisoner, according to the report.

In July 2024, a video of the rape of a prisoner at the Sde Teiman detention camp in the Negev desert was leaked by a female Israeli officer. Ten security officers were detained, but right-wing protesters—including members of parliament—attempted to storm the facility where the guards were being held to free them.

By last July, all charges against the guards were dropped. The officer who leaked the video, Major-General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, was arrested. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly called her action the “most severe public relations attack” on Israel since its founding.

When asked in the Knesset (Israel’s parliament) in July 2024 whether it was ever legitimate to rape a prisoner, Hanoch Milwidsky, a member of Netanyahu’s Likud party, shouted:

“Yes. If he is a Nukhba [Hamas fighter], everything is legitimate to do, everything.”

Dehumanization as a Driver

Sociologists and legal experts interviewed for the documentary argue that such abuses are enabled by decades of dehumanization of Palestinians in Israeli society and political culture.

Yehouda Shenhav-Shahrabani, a sociologist, said many Israelis are raised to see Palestinians as somehow outside the category of a recognizable people.

Albanese added:

“By depicting the entire population as human animals and terrorists, Israel has effectively painted a target on the back of an entire civilian population.”

She pointed to statements by Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who said “an entire nation” was responsible for the October 7 attack, and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, who called Palestinians “human animals.”

Legal Experts: Crimes Against Humanity

Triestino Mariniello, a professor at Liverpool John Moores University and part of the legal team representing Gaza victims at the International Criminal Court (ICC), told Al Jazeera there is a critical distinction:

“Isolated acts of sexual violence may constitute war crimes. When the same acts are organised and widespread, they amount to crimes against humanity.”

He added: “These crimes take place in state detention centres. The fact that perpetrators are not tried, prosecuted, or convicted shows an institutional policy behind their commission.”

No Immediate Response from Israel

As of publication, the Israeli government and military had not issued a formal response to the specific allegations in the Al Jazeera documentary. In the past, Israeli officials have dismissed similar reports as propaganda or “blood libels.”

Defence Minister Israel Katz has previously described attempts to hold soldiers accountable for rape as a “blood libel,” while National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has called investigations into the Sde Teiman rape case “shameful.”

A Continuing Reality

The documentary notes that while a paper ceasefire was imposed by former U.S. President Donald Trump in October 2025, Israel’s military campaign continues in practice, with ongoing forced displacements, arrests, and reports of torture and rape of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza.

As Albanese concluded:

“Surviving sexual violence and torture in general is brutal. Imagine when it’s done on a large-scale systemically to a population. It means to destroy the people as such.”

Source: Al Jazeera – “Bodies of Evidence: Israel’s Darkest Weapon” (Published June 9, 2026)

🔍 Key Allegations at a Glance