WCLAC Warns Israel’s Custody Rape Cases Are Only 1% of What Happens

A Palestinian women’s rights organisation warned that 75 documented cases of rape and sexual violence against Palestinian women in Israeli custody amount to no more than one per cent of what is actually happening, with the figure compiled by the Ramallah-based Women’s Centre for Legal Aid and Counselling (WCLAC).

WCLAC advocacy unit manager Kifaya Khraim told the Irish Examiner in April 2026, "This is maybe 1% of the cases," describing how her team spent more than two years gathering testimony across the West Bank, Gaza and Jerusalem.

Agence Media Palestine

The warning arrives as a UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory concluded in March 2025 that sexual violence against Palestinian detainees was "committed either under explicit orders or with implicit encouragement by Israel's top civilian and military leadership."

The commission said the report, spanning incidents since 7 October 2023, found that forced public stripping, rape threats and sexual assault "comprise part of the Israeli Security Forces' standard operating procedures toward Palestinians."

A CPJ report published this Thursday says Palestinian journalists jailed in Israeli prisons between October 2023 and January 2026 endured "systematic abuses," with the New York-based organization interviewing 59 reporters and finding "all but one" described torture, mistreatment or other forms of violence.

CPJ Director Jodie Ginsberg urged the international community to 'act' in response, saying, "The scale and consistency of these testimonies reveal a situation that goes far beyond isolated incidents," while CPJ reported that those interviewed lost an average of 23.5 kilograms during detention.

Agence Media Palestine

In a separate account, Al Jazeera reported that survivor Mohammed al-Bakri was arrested during Israeli military operations in Gaza in March 2024 and told the outlet that one night in prison Israeli soldiers stripped him naked, unleashed dogs and sexually assaulted him.

Al Jazeera quoted al-Bakri saying, "Dogs were unleashed on us and viciously attacked us," and reported that after his release he learned his wife had been killed in an Israeli strike while he was in prison.

Al Jazeera said more than 9,600 Palestinians were held in Israeli prisons last month, compared with about 5,250 before the war, an 83 percent increase according to prisoners’ advocacy groups, including 350 children and about 3,530 administrative detainees held without charge.

“Warning: This story contains descriptions of sexual assault that some readers may find disturbing”

Al Jazeera

In the same report, Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor told Al Jazeera that testimonies are part of a broader and systematic pattern, with Maha Hussaini saying Ahmed and al-Bakri are just two of dozens of cases documented in its April report titled “Another Genocide Behind Walls.”

The Women’s Centre for Legal Aid and Counselling, through Khraim, said allegations of torture and sexual violence within Israeli prisons is "very widespread," adding that after interviewing 75 women detained in separate centers and police stations in Gaza, the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem, all spoke of sexual violence including rape and sexual torture.

The CPJ report also said Israel has imprisoned a growing number of journalists since the launch of its offensive against Gaza in October 2023, documenting at least 94 journalists and one Palestinian media professional detained between October 2023 and January 2026, with 30 still incarcerated as of February 19.