NEW YORK – UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk said the staggering number of men, women, children, doctors, journalists and human rights defenders detained since 7 October, most of them without charge or trial and held in deplorable conditions, along with reports of ill-treatment and torture and violation of due process guarantees, raises serious concerns regarding the arbitrariness and the fundamentally punitive nature of such arrests and detention, according to a press release by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.
“The testimonies gathered by my Office and other entities indicate a range of appalling acts, such as waterboarding and the release of dogs on detainees, amongst other acts, in flagrant violation of international human rights law and international humanitarian law,” he said.
The UN Human Rights Office today published a report on arbitrary, prolonged and incommunicado detention by Israeli authorities, affecting thousands of Palestinians since last October.
The report also covers allegations of torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, including sexual abuse of women and men.
Since 7 October, thousands of Palestinians – including medical staff, patients and residents fleeing the conflict, as well as captured fighters – have been taken from Gaza to Israel, usually shackled and blindfolded. Thousands more have been detained in the West Bank and Israel. They have generally been held in secret, without being given a reason for their detention, access to a lawyer or effective judicial review, the report states.
At least 53 Palestinian detainees are known to have died in Israeli military facilities and prisons since the October 7 attack.
