T he soldiers drag the man into a section of the prison known as Hell’s Wing, a metaphor for its notoriety for acts of brutality. Shoving him violently into a corner, they take a step back before one of them draws his weapon and fires two rubber bullets at his body. The man, a double amputee, collapses to the floor.
After tying him up tightly, the soldiers continue their assault until one of them pulls a stun gun from its holster. The soldier approaches the man, brandishing the gun, before applying it to his body, engulfing him in an electric shock.
This is what Essa* says happened to him during a period in Israeli detention. Today, more than a year and a half later, the scars from the electric shocks remain visible on his body. The close proximity of double scars suggests he was subjected to repeated shocks while in a “tightly restrained” position, says the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims.
Essa, now 43, was arrested in the Jabalia refugee camp in January 2024, where he had been staying since having both feet amputated after an Israeli missile attack on his home. He was held at Israel’s Ofer Prison before being released in October 2025.
Relations between Axon and Israel date back to 1995, when a delegation from the company led by its founder, Rick Smith, attended a commercial security exhibition in Eilat.
In 2014, the US Department of State issued a report on human rights practices in the occupied territories, noting that the Israeli police commissioner, Yohanan Danino, had announced a temporary suspension of the use of Taser weapons in 2013, which came after the leak of a video documenting the repeated shocking of an Israeli citizen with one.
In 2016, MR Hunter emerged as Axon’s distributor in Israel and signed a 13m shekel (£3m) contract to supply the Taser X26P stun gun and its accessories to Israeli security agencies. In 2025, Axon listed another Israeli company, Goren-Kidon Group, as a distributor of its products in Israel. This company includes the Taser electroshock weapons among its products, and counts the Israeli police, the Ministry of National Security, the Ministry of Defence and the Israel prison service among its clients.
In June 2025, Axon held a conference in Israel to showcase the latest models of electroshock weapons, attended by representatives from Israeli security agencies.
Axon’s electroshock weapons are manufactured in the US state of Arizona and exported under the category of crime control. They are subject to oversight by the Department of Commerce, which grants export licences based on specific criteria , including whether there is evidence indicating “the government of the importing country may have violated internationally recognised human rights”.
According to an investigation by the Guardian and Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism, Essa was likely to have been tortured with a Taser electroshock weapon manufactured by the American company Axon Enterprise, formerly known as Taser International.
The alleged torture is one of a number of incidents that have been linked to the use of Axon weapons, which the company appears to continue to supply to Israel. Three other detainees since released allege they were tortured using Axon weapons between 2024 and 2025.
Human rights groups have condemned allegations of the repeated torture and ill-treatment of detainees held in Israeli detention centres and prisons using electric shock devices, with Amnesty calling for restrictions on exports of such devices.
A spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces said the abuse of detainees was strictly prohibited and that the use of restraints on detainees was carried out “only in exceptional circumstances that justify their use, and in subject to Israeli law, international law and IDF orders”.
An investigation conducted by the Israeli military advocate general, Itai Ofir, against five Israeli soldiers accused of committing a sexual assault against a Palestinian detainee inside the Sde Teiman detention camp in July 2024 found they had used a Taser weapon while torturing the detainee, leaving him needing hospital treatment.
In November 2025, the UN’s Committee Against Torture reported on allegations of torture, including the use of electric shocks, within Israeli detention facilities and noted that “torture and ill-treatment had escalated sharply since 7 October 2023”. The committee also expressed its “serious concern over widespread allegations of sexual abuse of Palestinian detainees … including allegations of rape … sexualised forms of torture … electrocution of the genitals and anus”.
Despite such concerns, Axon appears to have continued to sign contracts with Israeli entities to supply either the Taser gun or its accessories. As recently as June 2025, the company was showcasing the latest models of its electroshock weapons to Israeli security agencies at a conference in Israel .
Two video clips produced by the Israeli prison service over the past year show a gun that appears to be a Taser electroshock weapon produced by Axon. Both Essa and the three other detainees interviewed say it was the weapon used to torture them inside Israeli detention centres and prisons.
One of the detainees interviewed says he had water poured over his body – which can intensify the torture – before he was given an electric shock with a Taser weapon, during a spell in detention in 2024. He says he still suffers from severe visual impairment, spasms and recurrent fainting spells.
In August 2025, the Palestinian Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs highlighted the torture of detainees at Gilboa prison with electric shocks, before they were dragged to the shower stalls in the prison’s courtyard, doused with water and then shocked again. It did not state the model of weapon used. Amani Al-Sarhanah, from the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club, a human rights group, says: “The use of electric shocks may be just one of dozens of types of weapons that have been used against them [Palestinian prisoners]. We do not actually know what types they are or which companies supply them. Nevertheless, we certainly know that most weapons imported by Israel originate from the United States in one way or another.”
Since October 2023, 92 Palestinians are reported to have died while in detention, but only one Israeli soldier has been tried for mistreating Palestinian prisoners from Gaza, according to a report by a group of Israeli NGOs.
Amnesty says it has published extensively on the human rights risks involved in the use of electric shock weapons and has previously called for such law enforcement equipment to be included in the UN’s Arms Trade Treaty that regulates the trade in conventional weapons. Axon Enterprises and the Israel prison service were approached for comment.
