Israel: Amid reports of torture inside jails, rights experts call for end to impunity

This article is published in association with United Nations.

Reports of alleged torture and sexual violence in Israel’s Sde Teiman prison represent “the tip of the iceberg”, UN independent human rights experts warned on Monday, calling for swift action to end impunity surrounding reports of violations against Palestinian detainees.

“Israel’s widespread and systemic abuse of Palestinians in detention and arbitrary arrest practices over decades, coupled with the absence of any restraints by the Israeli State since 7 October 2023, paint a shocking picture enabled by absolute impunity,” the experts said.

Call for international observers

“What is required now is nothing short of an independent, international presence of human rights observers,” they said. “They must become the world’s eyes in light of Israel’s brazen failure to prevent and address the heinous rights violations against prisoners and detainees.”

The experts have received substantiated reports of widespread abuse, torture, sexual assault and rape, amid atrocious inhumane conditions, with at least 53 Palestinians apparently dying as a result in the 10 months that have followed the Hamas-led attacks on Israel, which left some 1,200 dead and 250 taken hostage.

Caged, blindfolded and stripped

Around 9,500 Palestinians, including hundreds of children and women, are currently imprisoned, a third of them without charge or trial, the independent UN Human Rights Council-appointed experts said.

Some victims spoke of loud music played until their ears bled, waterboarding and being attacked by dogs.

They added that an unknown number are arbitrarily being held in detention facilities and ad hoc camps following a wave of arrests and “abduction campaigns” across Occupied Palestinian Territory.

Countless testimonies by men and women speak of detainees in cage-like enclosures, tied to beds blindfolded and in diapers, stripped naked, deprived of adequate healthcare, food, water and sleep. Some allegedly have suffered electrocutions on their genitals, together with cigarette burns, the experts said.

Some victims also spoke of loud music played until their ears bled, being attacked by dogs, waterboarding, suspension from ceilings and severe sexual and gender-based violence.

“Allegations of gang-rape of a Palestinian detainee, now shockingly supported by voices in the Israeli political establishment and society, provide irrefutable evidence that the moral compass is lost,” the experts said.

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Previous warnings unheeded

In February 2024, a number of experts had expressed grave concern regarding the reports of sexual and other forms of gender-based violence committed against Palestinian women and girls in Israeli detention.

Francesca Albanese, the Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, investigated Israel’s detention practices in 2023 and called on UN Member States to intervene and the International Criminal Court (ICC) to promptly investigate what appeared to be a consolidated crime against humanity.

On Monday, the experts said they regretted this call was not heeded.

“Torture practices are irredeemably unlawful and constitute international crimes yet form part of the modus operandi of Israel’s notorious detention and torture system,” the experts warned. “These practices are intended to punish Palestinians for resisting occupation and seek to destroy them individually and collectively.”

De facto hostages

Most Palestinian detainees are “de facto hostages of an unlawful occupation”, the experts said, referring to the July 2024 advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the legal consequences of Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory.

As such, the experts called for oversight and accountability over all Israeli practices and policies in the territory.

“Israel’s genocidal destruction in Gaza, which is spreading across the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, serves as the backdrop to its abusive detention programme today,” the experts said.

UN Member States must end their silence

Decrying the silence by Member States following the emergence of testimonies and reports of alleged maltreatment and torture, the experts called for greater pressure to be applied to Israel with a view to implementing a cogent system of access, monitoring and protection of Palestinian detainees.

The Human Rights Council must urgently demand the deployment of special procedures mandate holders and the Commission of Inquiry, to facilities holding Palestinians, they said.

Special Rapporteurs and other UN rights experts are part of what is known as the Special Procedures. Serving in their individual capacity, they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work.