UN experts: Israel has intensified torture of Palestinians amid absolute impunity

UN experts have warned of the “intensified use of torture” in Israeli jails and detention centers against Palestinian prisoners held since October 2023.

They confirmed in a statement that the escalation in the use of torture by Israel against Palestinian detainees is a crime against humanity.

They denounced the “absolute impunity”, as well as “the silence of states (…) after the emergence of testimonies and reports of accusations of ill-treatment and torture.” 

The experts also confirmed that they had received “documented information” about numerous cases of torture, sexual assault and rape, “under horrific inhumane conditions.”

Countless testimonies from men and women report detainees being locked in various types of cages, chained to beds, blindfolded, wearing diapers, stripped naked, and deprived of adequate health care, food, water and sleep.

Elsewhere in the statement, the experts called for “pressure on Israel” with the aim of establishing a system of access, monitoring and protection for Palestinian prisoners.

They said that “what is needed now is an independent international presence of human rights observers. They must become the eyes of the world.”

A report released last week by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said routine beatings, prolonged sensory deprivation and dog attacks are among some of the torture techniques carried out by the Israeli military against Palestinian prisoners. 

It also found prisoners “being forced to kneel on gravel, [given] electric shocks, being burnt with cigarettes, and given hallucinogenic pills” as well as waterboarding.

Men and women both suffered sexual violence including electrocution of the genitals, threats of mass rape and forced nudity, often photographed or filmed. 

Palestinians subjected to electric shocks, sexual violence in Israeli jails: UN

The UN says the Palestinians are denied basic necessities including food and water.

Gaza detainee tortured to death at Israel’s Sde Teiman center 

Separately, prisoner advocacy groups said on Wednesday that a Palestinian detainee from Gaza died of torture at the notorious Sde Teiman detention center in southern part of 1948 occupied Palestinian territories Israel.

“Omar Junaid was one of scores of Gazan detainees who died of torture in Israeli prisons,” the Commission of Detainees’ Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoner Society said in a joint statement.

Junaid was arrested along with his brother by Israeli forces on 24 December 2023. He was pronounced dead on 17 June by Israeli group the HaMoked Centre for the Defense of the Individual.

International human rights reports have recently indicated that detainees from Gaza have been tortured at the detention facility, which has led to the death of dozens. 

In May, CNN exposed gruesome details of abuse, torture and mistreatment of Palestinians from Gaza in the detention facility with doctors speaking to the news organization about the torture inflicted on detainees. 

Released prisoners have accused medical staff at the facilities of taking part in humiliating and torturing inmates.

According to Israeli rights group B’Tselem, at least 60 Palestinians have died in Israeli custody since October.

B’Tselem also said in a report on Tuesday that testimonies from 55 ex-Palestinian detainees reveal that more than a dozen Israeli prison camps set up after October 7 are dedicated to the abuse of those in custody. 

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