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The U.N. Committee on Torture said there was evidence that Israel was carrying out a “de facto organized and widespread state policy of torture.”
The committee regularly reviews the records of all countries that are signatories to the Convention against Torture and hears testimony from governments and human rights organizations.
During Israel’s review, both Israel and Palestinian rights groups provided harrowing details about conditions in Israeli detention centers. Thousands of Palestinians are said to have been detained by Israel since the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023.
Under Israeli law on administrative detention and illegal combatants (suspects who cannot be classified as prisoners of war), they can be held for long periods of time without access to lawyers or family members.
Many Palestinian families said they had waited months to find out their loved ones had been detained, which a U.N. committee said amounted to “enforced disappearances.”
The Committee expressed particular criticism of Israel’s reported use of the Unlawful Combaters Law to detain entire groups of Palestinians, including children, pregnant women and the elderly.
But the most damning reading of the committee’s conclusions released today concerns the reported conditions of detention.
Evidence shows that Palestinians were regularly deprived of food and water and subjected to severe beatings, dog attacks, electrocution, waterboarding and sexual violence. Some were allegedly permanently shackled, denied access to the toilet and forced to wear diapers.
The commission concluded that such treatment “constitutes war crimes and crimes against humanity.” Evidence of Israel’s “de facto state policy of organized and widespread torture” is among the acts that constitute the crime of genocide under international law, the report said.
Israel has repeatedly denied accusations that it is committing genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
Peter Vedel Kessing of Denmark, one of the committee members, said he and his colleagues were “deeply shocked” by what they heard. Committee members also said they were deeply concerned about the lack of investigations or prosecutions of torture allegations. They called on Israel to launch an independent investigation and ensure that 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 on the committee’s findings today, but during a committee hearing its ambassador Daniel Meron described the torture allegations as “disinformation.”
Israel, he said, “is committed to fulfilling its obligations consistent with our moral values ​​and principles, even in the face of challenges posed by terrorist groups.”
In its conclusions, the UN committee unequivocally condemned the October 2023 Hamas attack and acknowledged the security challenges facing Israel.
But it also warned that violations of international law by one party did not justify similar actions by another party. According to the convention to which Israel is a party, the prohibition of torture is absolute: it is not permitted under any circumstances.
However, Israel’s domestic law is less clear, suggesting that the convention only applies to Israeli territory and not the occupied territories of Gaza and the West Bank – an interpretation that many international lawyers dispute.
The findings come as Israel faces growing pressure over its human rights record. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said in Geneva on Friday Israeli soldiers kill two Palestinians in West Bank in what looks like ‘summary executions’. Video of the killing showed two men raising their hands in an apparent surrender to Israeli forces.
U.N. aid agencies say the situation for people in Gaza remains dire despite the ceasefire. They warned that thousands of families faced winter cold and rain in tents, not enough aid was coming in and Israeli airstrikes continued against what Israel said were Hamas targets.
