Palestinian Prisoner Society Urges Israel Accountability For Systematic Sexual Violence Against Detainees

A prisoner advocacy group, the Palestinian Prisoner Society, urged holding Israel accountable for what it called "systematic" sexual violence and torture against Palestinian prisoners.

The group welcomed a report by the office of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres that said it had last year verified 31 cases of sexual violence perpetrated by Israeli forces against Palestinians from Gaza and the occupied West Bank, including rape, gang rape, forced nudity, and threats of rape.

Akhbar Hayat

The report said 13 of the cases occurred in 2025 and 18 in the two years prior, and the Palestinian Prisoner Society said the crimes amount to "war crimes and crimes against humanity" under international law.

The society said testimonies of Palestinian detainees showed the violations inside Israeli prisons "are not isolated incidents, but rather part of a systematic policy" aimed at breaking Palestinian spirit and stripping detainees of dignity and humanity.

The UAE condemned the storming of the Al Aqsa Mosque compound by Israeli settlers and the raising of the Israeli flag within its courtyards, saying the act was provocative and unacceptable.

In a statement, the UAE Foreign Ministry said the incident was carried out by settlers under the protection of Israeli police and stressed the need to respect the historical and legal status quo at Al Aqsa Mosque.

Al-Jazeera Net

Jordan’s role in overseeing Islamic holy sites in Jerusalem was reaffirmed by the UAE, which expressed "full solidarity with Jordan" in measures aimed at preserving and protecting the sacred places.

The UAE also called on Israeli authorities to assume responsibility for halting what it described as escalatory practices and to refrain from actions that could fuel tensions and undermine regional stability, while warning that such actions risk deepening instability.

In occupied East Jerusalem, Israeli settlers stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex and raised Israeli flags near the Dome of the Rock while occupation police continued their assaults on Jerusalemites, according to the Jerusalem Governorate and Wafa.

Al-Jazeera Net said the settlers carried out extremist religious rituals, with Wafa confirming the intrusion took place under the protection of the Israeli police and that dozens of settlers stormed the mosque in groups from the Bab al-Magharibah area.

In the occupied West Bank, a Palestinian worker, Imad Haroun Hamdan Ishtayeh, died after being shot by Israeli forces near the separation barrier in the town of Al-Ram, north of occupied Jerusalem, after being shot in the thigh with live ammunition.

Palestine Chronicle reported that the killing renewed attention on Palestinian workers prevented from reaching jobs inside Israel and occupied Jerusalem since the start of the Gaza genocide in October 2023, citing the General Federation of Palestinian Trade Unions’ estimate that more than 250,000 workers have been prevented from accessing their workplaces.