Israel may have tortured Palestinian prisoners – UN

According to the United Nations Human Rights Office, Palestinians imprisoned by Israel since the commencement of the Gaza War may have been tortured.
The UN investigation included evidence from incarcerated men, women, and children, who stated that they were “held in cage-like facilities, stripped naked for extended periods of time, wearing only diapers.”
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk stated that information gathered by his office revealed Israeli officials may have inflicted “appalling acts” on captives, including “waterboarding and the release of dogs”.

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Many have been kept without charge, without access to a lawyer, and under “deplorable conditions,” according to the study.
The paper also details the suffering that Israeli hostages said they experienced while being detained by Hamas. Former hostages said they were denied of appropriate food and drink while in custody, and some were reportedly abused.

Thousands of Palestinians have been imprisoned by Israeli soldiers during the Gaza conflict, primarily from Gaza but also from the occupied West Bank and Israel.
Human rights activists have expressed concerns about the detention facilities where some detainees are being housed, with both Israeli whistleblowers and freed captives alleging widespread maltreatment of Palestinian prisoners.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) claims it has been denied permission to visit institutions housing Palestinian inmates.
In July, Israeli officials stated that they were looking into accusations of mistreatment in detention centers, but provided no further details.

Responding to prior charges, Israel stated that violence against prisoners was “absolutely prohibited” and that its personnel were frequently trained on the expected behavior.
Earlier this week, Israeli military police arrested reservists suspected of harshly mistreating a Palestinian prisoner in the Sde Teiman facility in southern Israel. The US State Department has previously voiced alarm over reports of ill-treatment.
However, the UN report released today provides the most detailed descriptions of alleged torture from former prisoners and their relatives.
The Gaza conflict was sparked by Hamas’ onslaught on southern Israel on October 7, last year, when militants murdered about 1,200 Israelis and kidnapped 251.

Israel replied with a months-long military campaign in Gaza, killing around 39,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
According to the report, hundreds of Palestinians have been detained, including medical professionals and patients, as well as youngsters who have sought refuge in schools. At least 53 persons are believed to have died while detained.
Those released informed UN human rights investigators that they were blindfolded, denied food, sleep, and water, tortured to electric shocks, and burned with cigarettes.
Some women and men also discussed sexual and gender-based assault.
Mr Türk stated that the testimony in the study demonstrated a “flagrant violation of international human rights law and international humanitarian law.”

According to the UN, detaining people indefinitely and refusing them access to attorneys or contact with their family or humanitarian groups may constitute an international crime of enforced disappearance.
The report is certain to enrage Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s administration, which argues that its soldiers are following international law in Gaza and has long argued that the UN is biased against Israel.
The report asks all parties to the dispute in “immediately end all forms of arbitrary detention, including the holding of hostages, as well as torture or other ill-treatment, rape and other forms of gender-based violence, and ensure accountability for serious violations and abuses” .