Palestinians detained by Israel since the war broke out in Gaza may have been tortured, the UN human rights office says.
The UN report collected testimony from detained men, women and children who said they were “detained in cage-like facilities, stripped naked for long periods, wearing only diapers”.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said testimony his office had received suggested Israeli authorities may have used “horrific practices” on detainees, including “waterboarding and dog torture”.
The report added that many were detained without trial, without access to lawyers and in “deplorable conditions”.
The report also documents the suffering Israeli hostages said they endured while in Hamas captivity. Former hostages said they were deprived of adequate food and water while in captivity, and some said they were beaten.
Israeli forces arrested thousands of Palestinians during the Gaza war – mainly from Gaza but also from the occupied West Bank and Israel itself.
Human rights advocates have raised concerns about the facilities in which some detainees are held, with both Israeli whistleblowers and released detainees alleging widespread mistreatment of Palestinian prisoners.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) says it has been denied permission to visit facilities holding Palestinian prisoners.
In July, Israeli authorities said they were investigating reports of abuse at detention centers, but did not provide details.
In response to previous allegations, Israel said violence against detainees was “absolutely forbidden” and that it regularly briefed its forces on the conduct they must adhere to.
Earlier this week, Israeli police arrest reservist accused of severely mistreating Palestinian prisoner in Sde Teiman prison in southern Israel. The US State Department has also previously expressed concern about the allegations of mistreatment.
But today’s UN report contains the most detailed accounts yet from former detainees and families of detainees about alleged abuse.
The war in Gaza erupted after Hamas’s offensive into southern Israel on October 7 last year, when militants from the group killed some 1,200 Israelis and took 251 hostage.
Israel retaliated with a months-long military campaign in Gaza that left more than 39,000 Palestinians dead, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.
Thousands of Palestinians were reportedly arrested, some were medical staff with their patients, others were children taking refuge in schools. It is believed that at least 53 people died in custody.
Those released told UN human rights investigators that they were blindfolded, deprived of food, sleep and water, subjected to electric shocks and burned with cigarettes.
Some women and men also spoke about sexual and gender-based violence.
Mr. Türk said the testimonies in the report pointed to “flagrant violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law.”
The United Nations says holding people indefinitely, denying them access to a lawyer or contact with family or humanitarian organizations, could constitute the international crime of enforced disappearance.
The report is sure to anger Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, which insists its military is abiding by international law in Gaza and has long claimed the United Nations is biased toward Israel.
The UN report calls on all parties to the conflict to “immediately end all forms of arbitrary detention, including hostage-taking, as well as torture or other ill-treatment, rape and other forms of gender-based violence, and ensure accountability for serious violations and abuses”.
