The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights released a report today detailing allegations of torture and ill-treatment of Palestinian detainees by Israeli authorities since the attacks on October 7. The report describes brutal methods, including waterboarding, sleep deprivation, electrocution, and dog attacks.
According to the report, the Israel Prison Service held over 9,400 “security detainees” as of the end of June, with some being held incommunicado, without access to lawyers or due process. Detainees described being kept in cage-like facilities, stripped naked for extended periods with only diapers to wear, blindfolded for long durations, deprived of food, sleep, and water, and subjected to electric shocks and cigarette burns.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk stated, “The testimonies collected by my office and others indicate that a range of horrific acts, including waterboarding and the unleashing of dogs on detainees, among others, were committed in flagrant violation of international human rights and humanitarian law.”
The report includes interviews with former detainees and other sources, highlighting a “staggering” number of detainees, including men, women, children, journalists, and human rights defenders. The practices raise significant concerns about arbitrary detention.
An Israeli military court recently extended the detention of eight soldiers accused of sexual assault against a Palestinian at Sde Teiman prison, a secretive facility used during the war to hold prisoners from Gaza. Supporters of the soldiers have protested, calling for their release.
The report’s authors have shared its contents with the Israeli government, but there has been no immediate response from Israeli authorities. The report states that Israel has not provided information on the fate or whereabouts of many detainees transferred from Gaza, Israel, and the West Bank, and that the International Committee of the Red Cross has been denied access to the facilities where detainees are held.
Additionally, the report accuses the Palestinian Authority, which governs parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, of continuing practices of arbitrary detention, torture, and other ill-treatment, primarily to suppress criticism and political dissent.
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