Excerpt:

In this context, a former detainee’s testimony is particularly noteworthy. She is a 42-year-old woman from North Gaza, who was arrested in late October 2024 during her forced displacement from Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip. She reported that abuse started at the moment of her arrest, involving deliberate humiliation such as forcibly removing her hijab and leaving her exposed in freezing conditions, while being the only woman among dozens of male detainees.

The woman recounted that she was later transferred to the Sde Teiman camp, where she was forced at gunpoint to strip completely. Soldiers deliberately uncovered her eyes for brief moments so she could witness two soldiers photographing her naked with their phones, combining humiliation with coerced documentation and the attendant risks of public shaming and blackmail. She added that the abuse peaked on the third day of detention, when four masked soldiers took her to a small room containing a metal table fixed to the floor and equipped with surveillance cameras. There, she was shackled to the table and stripped, while two soldiers took turns violently raping her, and the other two documented the assault on film.

The rape and sexual violence were repeated. The detainee stated that she was left bound, naked, and bleeding throughout the night, before the soldiers returned the following day and repeated the assault. She confirmed that she was raped four times over two consecutive days, twice on each day, before being left completely naked in the room, still watched and filmed through the door.

She further testified that the torture later intensified, involving humiliation, coercion, and blackmail. She was moved to another interrogation room, suspended by her hands, and subjected to repeated electric shocks until she lost consciousness, while being shown photos of her rapes and nude images, and threatened with their publication if she did not “cooperate” with Israeli intelligence. This account from the victim suggests that sexual violence was employed as a means to subjugate and break her spirit. Non- consensual recordings were used for blackmail and threats of exposure, aiming to silence her, deter reporting or seeking justice, and create fear both within and outside the detention setting.

Describing the systematic terror she faced, the victim explained that she used to scream unheard, wished for death rather than remaining bound within their reach, and called her experience “another genocide behind walls.” She mentioned losing track of time in prison, recognising only the number “101,” given by the soldiers instead of her name, symbolising the erasure of identity and the dehumanisation within the detention system.