At least 53 detainees from Gaza and the West Bank have died in Israeli detention since 7 October, according to the UNHRC.
Aug. 2, 2024
Thousands of Palestinians have been detained by Israel since October 7 and mostly held in prolonged secret and incommunicado detention, with no information provided to their families on their fate or whereabouts, raising serious concerns of enforced disappearance, the UN Human Rights Office (UNHCR) says in a new report.
The 23-page report, released on Wednesday, also covers allegations of torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, including sexual abuse of women and men. It is based primarily on information gathered through interviews with released detainees and other victims and witnesses of violations, as well as human rights and UN organizations.
Detainees include “men, women, children, doctors, journalists, (and) human rights defenders” most of whom have been arrested “without charges or trial and in conditions that raise concerns of the abuse of administrative detention.”
“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,” said Volker Türk, the UN Human Rights Chief.
Along with “reports of torture and other ill-treatment and violation of due process”, their arrests raise “serious concerns regarding the arbitrariness and punitive nature” of such arrests and detention, the UNHCR said.
“At least 53 detainees from Gaza and the West Bank have died in Israeli detention since 7 October,” the report said.
Men and Adolescent Boys Taken
The report said that while the exact number of those held is difficult to ascertain, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) estimates that the Israeli military “has taken thousands of Palestinians into custody.”
Many were detained while sheltering in schools, hospitals and residential buildings, or at checkpoints during the forced displacement of large numbers of Palestinians from north to south Gaza.
At least “40 staff members” of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) have also been detained in Gaza.
“In most cases, men and adolescent boys were detained, although women, including a woman over 80 years of age and with Alzheimer’s disease, and girls without any apparent link to armed groups,” have also been detained.
Medical Personnel Detained
Doctors, nurses and other medical personnel, alongside patients, their companions, and internally displaced persons have been arrested or detained during raids on hospitals and medical facilities.
According to the Gaza Ministry of Health, in total 310 medical staff had been arrested from all medical facilities across Gaza as of 31 May 2024.
Hundreds more were taken into custody while moving after being displaced from the north of Wadi Gaza to Middle Gaza and Rafah.
After initial detention within Gaza, “extending between a few hours and a day or two,” the Israeli military “reportedly take all detainees from Gaza who have not been released” to detention facilities in Israel and the occupied West Bank.
“These have included ad hoc detention facilities inside military barracks in Israel or the occupied West Bank, including Anatot in Naqab (Negev) desert, Sde
Gazan Workers Missing
Since October 7, Israel detained “en masse Palestinian workers and patients from Gaza legally present in Israel.”
Israeli authorities revoked their permits and detained them without legal basis, and “taken to ad hoc detention facilities in Sde Teiman and Anatot military barracks or to Ofer Prison.”
The report said that while Israel has not provided information on the number or location of those detained, OHCHR estimates that, out of the 10,300 Palestinian workers and patients from Gaza who were present in Israel on October 7 last year, “3,200 were released and transferred into Gaza in November 2023, and 6,441 workers were transferred to the occupied West Bank, while around 1,000 of them remain missing.”
West Bank Arrests
The report said that at the end of June 2024, the Israel Prison Service (IPS) held 9,440 detainees qualified as “security detainees” by Israel, almost double the 5,088 held at the end of September 2023.
“Of the 9,440 ‘security detainees’, 3,377 were administrative detainees (increased from 1,264 at the end of September 2023), 2,561 others were remand detainees, 2,087 were sentenced prisoners and 1,415 ‘unlawful combatants’.”
Since October 7, the Israeli military has “repeated incursions” into towns and cities in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, on an “almost daily basis.” The incursions have resulted in “mass arrests” of Palestinians, including family members of “wanted persons.”
Waterboarding, Electrocution
Many of those detained and subsequently released have reported being subject to forms of torture or other ill-treatment, including severe beatings, electrocution, being forced to remain in stress positions for prolonged periods, or waterboarding.
Detainees have been subjected to prolonged blindfolding, the prolonged deprivation of food, sleep deprivation, water and medical attention, prolonged exposure to the cold, being forced to kneel on gravel, deliberate humiliation, blackmailing, electric shocks, being burnt with cigarettes, and given hallucinogenic pills,” the report said.
They also reported “being held in cage-like facilities, forced to be naked for prolonged periods, wearing only diapers, and denied access to the toilet. Other alleged practices of torture or ill-treatment included waterboarding and being left suspended for hours with hands tied to the ceiling.”
Sexual Violence
The report said that Israeli forces “allegedly” committed acts of sexual and gender-based violence against detained men and women from both Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
These included “the forced nudity of both men and women; beatings while naked, including on the genitals; electrocution of the genitals and anus; being forced to undergo repeated humiliating strip searches; widespread sexual slurs and threats of rape; and the inappropriate touching of women by both male and female soldiers.”
There are testimonies of victims as well as video material, that some almost naked, blindfolded and tightly handcuffed male detainees were filmed and photographed in deliberately humiliating positions.
In one instance at least, the report said, there is “video evidence” of blindfolded and handcuffed male Palestinian detainees being transported entirely naked.
“OHCHR has also received consistent reports of ISF personnel inserting objects into detainees’ anuses,” the report said.
‘Broken from the Inside’
In another “particularly egregious” case of reported sexual violence, a Palestinian man released from an Israeli prison described to OHCHR that, on one occasion in October 2023, Israeli guards dragged him and his cellmates to the kitchen while handcuffed behind their backs, “forced them to strip naked and piled them atop each other.”
While naked, a guard put a piece of vegetable in the interviewee’s anus while other soldiers were filming with their phones.
“I felt like I was broken from the inside as they took us back to our cell. We were in the room in a state of shock, tears falling from our eyes without a sound. No one was talking to each other. None of us wanted to look at each other,” he said.
ICRC’s Access Suspended
Since October 7, Israel has suspended the ICRC’s access to all Palestinian detainees in its custody, whether from Gaza or the West Bank. According to Palestinian prisoners’ organizations, Israeli authorities also denied them access to all Palestinian detainees from Gaza, the report said.
The UNHRC also highlighted that the Palestinian Authority (PA) “continued to carry out arbitrary detention and torture or other ill-treatment in the West Bank, reportedly principally to suppress criticism and political opposition.”
“Men as well as boys detained by the PA on criminal charges along with adults, were reportedly subjected to beatings (with objects and hands or legs), prolonged stress positions, threats, pressure to confess charges and solitary confinement,” the report said.
Türk emphasized, “International humanitarian law protects all those being held, requiring their humane treatment and protection against all acts of violence or threats thereof.”
The OHRC called on Israel to, amongst other factors, immediately release all Palestinians “who have been arbitrarily detained and ensure due process and fair trial guarantees.”
It also urged Israel to “Reform all legislation, policies and practices, including especially the Incarceration of Unlawful Combatants Law and Military Order 1651, to bring these fully into compliance with Israel’s obligations under international law, including by prohibiting incommunicado detention and ensuring access to families and legal representation.”
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