The report said “thousands” of Palestinians were arbitrarily detained by Israel during the Gaza war.
Israel has detained thousands of Palestinians during the Gaza war and is accused of numerous cases of torture, the UN human rights office says in a new report.
The 23-page report, released Wednesday, details allegations of widespread abuse of prisoners held incommunicado in arbitrary and prolonged detention. It comes as far-right politicians and protesters oppose an investigation into alleged sexual abuse of detainees by soldiers.
Drawing mainly on interviews with released detainees and other victims between October 7 and June 30, the UN report reveals that since the start of the war, “thousands of Palestinians”, including medical personnel, have been “taken from Gaza to Israel, usually in chains and blindfolded”.
As of the end of June, the Israeli Prison Service was holding more than 9,400 “security detainees,” the report said, adding that those detained were “held incommunicado, without being given any reason for their detention” and without lawyers.
“At least 53 Palestinian detainees” have died in Israeli detention centers, it added. The report also detailed “allegations of torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, including sexual abuse of women and men.”
‘Breach’
The report was released as part of an investigation by the Israeli military, which is questioning nine soldiers over allegations of “substantial mistreatment” of a Palestinian detainee at the Sde Teiman detention camp in the Negev desert in southern Israel.
Last week, eight Palestinian prisoners released by the Israeli army said they had been tortured while in Ofer prison in the occupied West Bank.
Former Palestinian detainees told the UN that they were held in “cage-like facilities, stripped naked for long periods, wearing only diapers.”
Documented abuses included deprivation of food, sleep and water, as well as burning with cigarettes.
“Some detainees reported being subjected to dogs being released on them, others reported being subjected to waterboarding, or having their hands tied and suspended from the ceiling. Women and men also spoke of sexual and gender-based violence,” the report said.
Palestinian detainees held in Israel are mostly men and boys who are residents, doctors or patients as well as captured Palestinian fighters, he added.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, said that testimonies collected by his office and others “indicate a pattern of appalling acts… in flagrant violation of international human rights law and international humanitarian law.”
The Israeli military rarely explains why it detains Palestinians in Gaza, although in some cases it has claimed affiliation with Palestinian armed groups or their political wings, the report added.
Israel also provides no information on the fate of detainees, while the Red Cross has been denied access to prisons and other facilities.