‘I was raped by a huge dog’: Survivors recount horror in Israeli custody — ‘It was a big party, as they call it’

Published 10 June 2026 · world

Mohammed Zaki al-Bakri, a Gaza civil servant who was held prisoner by Israeli soldiers after the October 7 attack on Gaza, says he was raped

Mohammed Zaki al-Bakri, a Gaza civil servant who was held prisoner by Israeli soldiers after the October 7 attack on Gaza, says he was raped by a huge dog during his time in Israeli custody. Recounting the horror he faced at the hands of Israeli guards, al-Bakri says he remembers the exact date he was raped. "I think the date was 10th April 2024. This was the worst day I went through there. They took away many of our young men, leaving about six or seven of us. They treated us like crazy," he told Al Jazeera. He recalled, "They put us in a small cage outside. Outside the cage we were in, there was a small case, like a passage, they call it something like a waiting area. They stripped us of our clothes while we were handcuffed. We were blindfolded, and our hands and legs were bound." Also Read | Netanyahu asks Israeli military to expand control in Gaza "They attacked us with dogs...with them were officers and soldiers. It was a big party, as they call it. The dog was very big. The dog has an iron muzzle that also cuts the body and shaves the body." "After we were stripped, some officers or soldiers had with them a rubber rod. A rod used like a sex toy. They used these and pipes on some of us, and they used dogs on others.

I was among them. After being stripped of my clothes, I was raped by a huge dog," Al-Bakri said. "We were crying and screaming and saying, "Oh Lord, Oh Lord...we couldn't do anything," Al-Bakri said as he shared detailed testimonies to Al Jazeera for a documentary titled Bodies of Evidence: Israel’s Darkest Weapon. The documentary was released on YouTube on June 9. It claims to expose “Israel’s use of rape in jails”, interviewing former detainees who alleged systematic torture and sexual violence, including rape, while in Israeli custody. Mint could not verify the claims independently. Also Read | Netanyahu asks Israeli military to expand control in Gaza The media outlet says it is a documentary investigation into what International Criminal Court (ICC) judges, the United Nations and its special rapporteur on the occupied territories, Francesca Albanese say amounts to the widespread and systematic use of rape and sexual torture by the Israeli army against Palestinians. As with Al-Bakri, 'casual labourer' Job's memory of his rape is equally clear. "The hardest moment I saw in my whole life wasn't the beating, or the humiliation or the electric shocks," he could be heard telling Al Jazeera in the documentary. Like Al-Bakri's, Job's account also started with soldiers handcuffing him and stripping him of his clothes. He alleged that the women soldiers raped him using artificial objects.