UN documents Israeli torture but world remains silent

Reading excerpts of the latest report by a UN committee of experts on torture focusing on Israeli practices against Palestinian detainees is nauseating, disturbing and shocking, to say the least. It documents egregious violations of the 1984 UN Convention Against Torture, which Israel has signed, and concludes that Tel Aviv has “a de facto state policy of organized and widespread torture.” The report covers the last two years, since Oct. 7, 2023, and cites disturbing examples of what Palestinian detainees are subjected to in Israeli detention facilities.
The committee expressed “deep concern over allegations of repeated severe beatings, dog attacks, electrocution, water-boarding, use of prolonged stress positions (and) sexual violence.” It added that Palestinian detainees were humiliated by “being made to act like animals or being urinated on.” They were also systematically denied medical care and subjected to excessive use of restraints, “in some cases resulting in amputation.”
It raised concern about what it described as the wholesale use of the so-called Unlawful Combatants Law to justify the prolonged detention without trial of thousands of Palestinian men, women and children. According to the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem, as of September, the Israel Prison Service was holding 3,474 Palestinians in “administrative detention” without trial. The committee pointed to the high proportion of children who are currently detained without charge or on remand, noting the age of criminal responsibility imposed by Israel is 12 and that children younger than that have also been detained.
The committee also noted that 75 Palestinians had died in custody over the course of the Gaza war, during which detention conditions for Palestinians had undergone a “marked deterioration.” Israel’s racist National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, in charge of the prison service, has openly taken credit for such deterioration by pledging to end what he called “summer camp” conditions for Palestinian detainees, pushing for maximal restrictions and humiliation. Rights groups and legal experts argue that his ideological agenda — viewing Palestinian detainees primarily as enemies to be punished and deterred — has translated into institutionalized abuse through formal directives and political cover for the security forces.
Ben-Gvir’s collective and inhumane punishments of Palestinian detainees include: the withdrawal of previously acquired “privileges,” closure of canteens, confiscation of personal belongings and electrical devices, severe restrictions on yard time and bathing, and cutting electricity for most of the day in some facilities. The solitary confinement of key Palestinian detainees is a common practice, including parading them, hands tied behind their backs and lying on the floor for hours, before the media.
Not once has the far-right Israeli government, headed by Benjamin Netanyahu, criticized or reprimanded Ben-Gvir. His latest measure is to restrict access to the detainees by lawyers, relatives and the International Committee of the Red Cross.

The worst treatment is reserved for the thousands of Palestinian detainees from Gaza, including civilians and medical staff.

Osama Al-Sharif

Testimony from several released detainees and detailed reports by nongovernmental organizations describe a pattern of severe overcrowding, lack of beds and cells left dirty and infested, combined with drastic reductions in food and water rations, leading to malnutrition and hunger. Routine beatings, the use of special riot units, pepper spray and stun grenades, along with strip searches, humiliation, prolonged solitary confinement and psychological terror, including threats of killing and retaliation against families, have also been documented.
But the worst treatment is reserved for the thousands of Palestinian detainees from Gaza, including civilians and medical staff, who have been held incommunicado in military or ad hoc facilities such as Sde Teiman, often without charges, access to lawyers or family contact. UN and UNRWA-linked internal reports, plus former detainee testimonies, describe cage-like holding areas, prolonged shackling and blindfolding, dog attacks, stress positions, waterboarding, sexual and gender-based violence, and deprivation of food, sleep and toilets. Summary killings and cover-ups have also been reported.
In addition to the damning UN report, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Affairs Authority and the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club issued a briefing on Sunday, presenting extensive witness reports from detainees in several Israeli prisons and camps during November. The briefing was in line with the UN report, revealing extremely harsh detention conditions, including systematic torture, starvation and degrading treatment.
One testimony from the notorious Ofer prison stated that a detainee was electrocuted after guards saw him leading other detainees in prayer. Others reported being electrocuted “for standing at the iron windows inside the cells trying to get some fresh air,” describing this as “one of the most cruel and severe methods.”
One revolting incident concerned a specific video that emerged from the Sde Teiman detention facility in southern Israel, showing Israeli soldiers sexually assaulting a blindfolded and restrained Palestinian detainee. The footage shows soldiers using shields to obscure their identities as they sexually abuse the prisoner. This detainee was later hospitalized with severe injuries, including a ruptured bowel, lung damage and broken ribs. Some far-right Israelis vehemently defended the soldiers accused of the rape, even attempting to storm military facilities to protest their detention.
These are considered war crimes under international law. Palestinians arrested in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem are, from a legal point of view, considered civilians under occupation and thus “protected persons” under the Fourth Geneva Convention. Holding protected persons without due process, primarily via open-ended administrative detention based on secret evidence, is widely described by UN bodies and NGOs as arbitrary detention. It may amount to the war crime of unlawful confinement and, in some circumstances, crimes against humanity, according to experts.
And yet, Israel’s flagrant abuse of Palestinian detainees, which the UN now confirms is a de facto state policy, has not been brought to international courts. The UN committee also raised concerns about the impunity of Israeli security forces for war crimes.
As of October, the total number of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons was estimated to have surpassed 11,100, the highest figure since the Second Intifada in 2000. This number includes approximately 49 women and 400 children and it excludes the thousands of Gazans held in military-run camps with no access to legal aid.
In recent months, Israel has intensified its military raids in the West Bank, arresting hundreds of Palestinians, mostly without charging them. In reality, the majority of the detainees in Israeli prisons and detention camps are hostages Israel uses as bargaining chips.
The UN report should have sent tremors across the world. The detainees’ testimonies describe practices from medieval times, not from a country that the West praises as democratic and liberal. What is happening to Palestinian detainees is a shame and a stain on the face of humanity.

• Osama Al-Sharif is a journalist and political commentator based in Amman. X: @plato010