Dozens of Palestinian journalists beaten, starved or raped, report alleges
Israeli prison service and IDF reject allegations after research by Committee to Protect Journalists
Almost 60 Palestinian journalists detained in Israeli prisons since the 7 October 2023 Hamas attack have been beaten, starved and subjected to sexual violence, including rape, a report alleges.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) reviewed dozens of testimonies, photographs and medical records documenting what it describes as serious abuses by Israeli soldiers and prison guards against Palestinian reporters. The report draws on in-depth interviews from 59 Palestinian journalists. Of those interviewed, 58 reported being subjected to what they described as torture while in Israeli custody.
“While conditions varied at different facilities, the methods those interviewed recounted – physical assaults, forced stress positions, sensory deprivation, sexual violence, and medical neglect – were strikingly consistent,” the report states.
The Israeli prison service and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have both strongly rejected the allegations.
Journalist Sami al-Sai, who has reported for the Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera Mubasher and the local broadcaster Al-Fajer TV, said he was taken to a small cell in Megiddo prison, and soldiers removed his trousers and underwear, and penetrated him with batons and other objects.
“I did not speak to anyone inside the prison about what happened, except for two senior detainees who have been imprisoned for 25 years,” Sai said.
In December 2025, German journalist Anne Liedtke, detained onboard a Gaza-bound flotilla, alleged Israeli soldiers raped her while in custody. Italian journalist Vincenzo Fullone and Australian activist Surya McEwen made similar accusations.
Shadi Abu Sido, a Palestinian journalist from Gaza who works for Palestine Today, was released after 20 months in detention at Sde Teiman last October. He had been seized by Israeli forces at al-Shifa hospital on 18 March 2024, and said he “was shackled, blindfolded, and forced through a corridor of soldiers who beat him with batons and kicks”. He later learned he had a broken rib.
At Ofer prison, radio journalist Mohammad al-Atrash described a coordinated mass assault in November 2023 involving dozens of prisoners, that he and other detainees called “a Shin Bet party” or a “Ben-Gvir party” (named after Israeli far-right national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir). Al-Atrash stated that “trained dogs were ordered to attack the detainees, and metal instruments were used to create long-lasting bleeding and scars”.
Osama al-Sayed, a report from Al-Aqsa TV, recounted the intermittent use of electroshocking and pepper spray between beatings, which took place shortly after a visit to the prison by Ben-Gvir.
Eleven Palestinian journalists cited the use of a torture method known as strappado, or what the Palestinian journalists termed “ghost hanging”, in which a person is suspended by their arms, bound behind the back, and then pulled upward.
Fifty-five of the 59 journalists interviewed reported extreme hunger or malnutrition.
Photographs shared with the Guardian by the CPJ show the journalists before and after their detention, showing visibly gaunt and physically diminished men.
The CPJ calculated an average weight loss of 23.5kg (52 pounds) among the group by comparing journalists’ reported weight before and after detention.
Ahmed Shaqoura, a reporter from Palestine Today TV, lost 54kg during 14 months in Israeli custody in Ktzi’ot and Al-Jalama prisons.
“These are not isolated incidents,” said CPJ regional director Sara Qudah. “Across dozens of cases, CPJ documented a recurring set of abuse directed at journalists because of their work.”
Forty-eight of the journalists, a majority, were never charged with any crime and were held under Israel’s administrative detention system, which allows for an individual to be held without charge, typically for six months that can be renewed indefinitely.
A spokesperson for the Israeli prison service (IPS) said they “categorically” rejected the allegations, citing how “any concrete complaint submitted through the official channels is examined by the competent authorities in accordance with established procedures”.
In a statement, the IDF also said it “completely rejects allegations regarding the systematic abuse of detainees, including allegations of sexual abuse”.
“In appropriate cases”, it added, “disciplinary measures are taken against facility staff members and criminal investigations are initiated when there is reasonable suspicion of a criminal offence.”
In early 2025, leaked surveillance footage from Sde Teiman detention camp appeared to show soldiers sexually assaulting detainees, triggering a national scandal. The footage was aired by Israeli journalist Guy Peleg, who has since reported facing threats and harassment.
A recent report by Physicians for Human Rights – Israel documented 94 Palestinian deaths in Israeli custody since 7 October 2023.
The CPJ puts the number of journalists to have been killed since the start of the Gaza war at 252.