The UN Committee on Torture says there is evidence that Israel is carrying out a “de facto state policy of organized and widespread torture”.
The Committee regularly reviews the records of all countries that have signed the Convention against Torture, taking testimony from their governments and human rights groups.
During Israel’s review, both Israeli and Palestinian rights groups provided horrifying details about conditions in Israeli detention centers. It has been alleged that thousands of Palestinians have been detained by Israel since the Hamas attacks of 7 October 2023.
Under Israel’s laws on administrative detention and unlawful combatants – suspects who cannot be classified as prisoners of war – they can be held for long periods of time without access to a lawyer or family members.
Many Palestinian families say they had to wait months to find out whether a loved one had been detained, a UN committee called “enforced disappearances”.
The Committee was particularly critical of Israel’s alleged use of unlawful combatant law to detain entire groups of Palestinians, including children, pregnant women, and the elderly.
But it is the conditions described in detention that constitute the most serious concern of the committee’s findings published today.
Evidence shows that Palestinians are routinely deprived of food and water, and subjected to severe beatings, dog attacks, electric shock, water boarding, and sexual violence. Some are reportedly permanently shackled, denied access to toilets and forced to wear diapers.
The Committee concluded that such behavior “amounts to a war crime and a crime against humanity”. It said that evidence of a “de facto state policy of organized and widespread torture” by Israel was one of the acts that constitute the crime of genocide under international law.
Israel has repeatedly rejected allegations that it is carrying out genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
Denmark’s Peter Wedel Kessing, a member of the committee, said he and his colleagues were “deeply shocked” by what they heard. Committee members also said they were deeply concerned by the lack of investigation or prosecution of allegations of torture. He called on Israel to launch an independent investigation and ensure those responsible, including senior military officers, are held accountable.
Israel, which has long accused the United Nations of bias against it, did not comment publicly today on the committee’s findings, but during the committee hearing its ambassador Daniel Meron described the torture allegations as “disinformation.”
He said Israel is “committed to maintaining its obligations in line with our moral values and principles, even in the face of the challenges posed by the terrorist organization”.
In its conclusions, the UN committee took care to unequivocally condemn the October 2023 Hamas attack, and acknowledged the security challenges facing Israel.
But it also warned that violation of international law by one party does not justify the other party doing the same. Under the convention, to which Israel is a party, the prohibition on torture is absolute: it is not permitted under any circumstances.
However, Israel’s domestic law is less clear, suggesting that the convention applies only to Israeli territory, not the occupied territories of Gaza and the West Bank – an interpretation which many international lawyers dispute.
The findings come amid growing pressure on Israel over its human rights record. The killing of two Palestinians by Israeli soldiers in the West Bank looks like a “summary execution”, the UN human rights office in Geneva said on Friday. Video of the killing shows two men with their hands raised, apparently surrendering to Israeli forces.
And UN aid agencies say the situation for people in the Gaza Strip remains dire despite the ceasefire. He warned that thousands of families are braving winter cold and rain in tents, insufficient aid supplies are arriving, and Israeli airstrikes are continuing against what it says are Hamas targets.
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