A new UN report asserts that Israel has a “de facto state policy of organised and widespread torture,” citing a lack of accountability for alleged war crimes. The UN committee detailed allegations of severe beatings, dog attacks, electrocution, waterboarding, stress positions, and sexual violence against Palestinian detainees.
It also reported cases of humiliation, denial of medical care, and the use of extreme restraints that have even caused amputations. The committee criticised Israel’s Unlawful Combatants Law for enabling prolonged detention without trial of thousands of Palestinians, including children. As of late September, Israeli human rights organisation B’Tselem recorded 3,474 Palestinians held in administrative detention without charges.
The UN highlighted the high number of child detainees, some under 12, who face solitary confinement, limited family contact, and no access to education. It warned that Israel’s broader treatment of Palestinians in occupied areas may amount to torture under international law. The report noted that 75 Palestinians have died in custody during the Gaza war amid worsening conditions and no official accountability. Despite Israeli officials denying the use of torture, the UN found no criminal prosecutions for such abuses in the past two years aside from one lenient conviction.
The report’s publication coincided with the investigation and release without charges of three Israeli border police officers who fatally shot two unarmed Palestinian detainees in Jenin in an incident recorded on video that is at total odds with the police version of events.
Ketziot Prison in the Negev desert