Palestinians arrested by Israel during the Gaza war have been largely held in secret, in some cases subjected to treatment that may amount to torture, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said Wednesday. At least 53 prisoners from Gaza and the West Bank have died in Israeli custody since October 7, according to a report by the U.N. human rights office covering the period from October 7 to June 30.
“The testimonies collected by my office and others indicate a series of appalling acts, such as simulated drowning and the setting loose of dogs on detainees, among others, in flagrant violation of international human rights law and international humanitarian law,” said Volker Türk.
The report also describes prisoners being blackmailed or “burned with cigarettes and given hallucinogenic drugs.” Since Hamas’ unprecedented attack on Israeli soil on October 7, thousands of Palestinians have been taken from Gaza to Israel, “usually handcuffed and blindfolded,” and thousands more have been imprisoned in the West Bank and Israel, the report said.
“Detained incommunicado”
“They were generally held incommunicado, without being given a reason for their detention, access to a lawyer or judicial supervision,” adds the report, which is based on testimonies from Palestinian prisoners and other victims and witnesses of these violations.
Israel did not immediately respond to the report. The country has rejected previous critical reports and said it respects international law. On Monday, the Israeli military announced the arrest of nine soldiers in an investigation into alleged mistreatment of a detainee at the Sde Teiman detention center in southern Israel.
The Palestinian Prisoners Club accused the soldiers of “rape.” According to the Palestinian NGO defending prisoners, some 9,600 Palestinians are currently in Israeli prisons, including hundreds in administrative detention without charge.
In its conclusion, the report said it provided “reasonable grounds” to believe that Israel and Palestinian armed groups as parties to the conflict in Gaza “have committed serious violations and abuses” since October 7, “of the rights to life, liberty and freedom from torture and other ill-treatment as well as rape and other forms of sexual violence, all of which may amount to war crimes.”
According to the report, the Palestinian Authority continues to “practice arbitrary detention, torture and other ill-treatment in the West Bank”, mainly “to silence criticism and political opposition”.
Volker Türk called on all parties to implement a ceasefire and ensure full respect for international law and transparency for violations and abuses. He called for the release of all hostages in Gaza and the release of Palestinians arbitrarily detained by Israel. “Secrecy, prolonged solitary confinement can also constitute a form of torture,” Volker Türk said.
Conditions in Israeli prisons, as well as the treatment of detainees by Hamas, have been the subject of other reports. Amnesty International said this month that it had documented 27 cases of Palestinians, including five women and a 14-year-old boy, held by Israel for “up to four and a half months” without access to their families.
On October 7, Hamas commandos infiltrated from Gaza into southern Israel carried out an attack that killed 1,197 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli data. Of the 251 people kidnapped at the time, 111 are still being held in Gaza, including 39 who died, according to the army.
In response, Israel launched an offensive that has so far killed 39,400 people, according to the health ministry of the Hamas-run Gaza government, which did not give details of the number of civilians and fighters killed.
