Behind the Headline with Awad Joumaa

A warning: this episode contains testimony of torture and sexual violence, told by the people it happened to.

In March 2024, Mohammed Zaki Al-Bakri was a secretary at Gaza's Ministry of Education. Then Israeli soldiers took him, handcuffed him, blindfolded him and gave him a number. "This number is your name," they told him. He was held for twenty months and moved through five prisons.

Bodies of Evidence is a three-part audio series adapted from the Al Jazeera Originals investigation of the same name. You hear the survivors, lawyers and investigators in their own voices: men from Gaza, women from the West Bank, a boy of seventeen.

Episode 1: Your Name Is 42

Episode 2: The Welcome Party (coming next)

0:00 Your name is 42

2:09 Before the cell

5:07 The arrest

9:26 Stripped

12:54 The army base

14:46 File is classified

17:24 Graveyards

20:21 Sde Teiman

21:03 Credits

Follow Behind the Headline so you hear Episode 2 the moment it lands.

Watch the full film free: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3pApprHfrY

Bodies of Evidence is an Al Jazeera Originals film by Awad Joumaa, in co-production with Pomona Pictures. Adapted for audio by Awad Joumaa. Original film music: Gerard Baladad. Some names are pseudonyms to protect the people who spoke. Narration and translation voices recreated digitally.

Sources

Al Jazeera, "Shackled, bleeding, raped: Palestinians describe abuse in Israel's prisons" (9 Jun 2026): https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2026/6/9/shackled-bleeding-raped-palestinians-describe-abuse-in-israels-prisons

Al Jazeera, "They used dogs" (9 Jun 2026): https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/6/9/they-were-laughing-israels-use-of-rape-and-sexual-abuse-in-prisons

Military court conviction rate, 99.74% (Haaretz via +972): https://www.972mag.com/conviction-rate-for-palestinians-in-israels-military-courts-99-74-percent/

Yesh Din, complaints against soldiers 2017 to 2021 (the Israeli army disputes the figure and counts 31 indictments): https://yesh-din.org/en/law-enforcement-against-israeli-soldiers-suspected-of-harming-palestinians-and-their-property-summary-of-figures-for-2017-2021/

PCATI, torture complaints since 2001: https://stoptorture.org.il/en/situation-report-2021/

Palestinian prisoner figures, April 2026 (PCHR): https://pchrgaza.org/palestinian-prisoners-day-unprecedented-escalation-of-torture-enforced-disappearance-and-arbitrary-detention-in-israeli-prisons/

Children detained since October 2023 (15 Oct 2026): https://bdnews24.com/world/middle-east/o8q22tnk1n