Friday, August 02, 2024

Israel used dogs, waterboarding on Palestinian detainees from Gaza, UN report says


Smoke rises from an Israeli air strike in Rafah as seen from Khan Younis

By Emma Farge
Wed, July 31, 2024 


GENEVA (Reuters) - Thousands of Palestinians have been forcibly removed from Gaza, sometimes from bomb shelters, and dragged into detention in Israel where some have been tortured and dozens have died, according to a U.N. human rights office report on Tuesday.

Many of those seized in Gaza since the war began on Oct. 7 were taken at checkpoints as they fled Israel's military offensive or from the schools and hospitals where they were sheltering, said the 23-page report based primarily on interviews with released detainees and other victims and witnesses.


Often, they were blindfolded and shackled before being transported to Israel and placed in "cage-like" military centres and forced to wear nothing but diapers for prolonged periods, it said. The U.N. report said 53 detainees died in custody.

"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 United Nations High Commissioner Volker Turk in a statement accompanying the report.

He called for their immediate release as well as the release of the remaining hostages from among the 253 kidnapped in Israel in the Oct. 7 attacks in which 1,200 people were killed.

The Israeli military has said it is investigating allegations of mistreatment of detainees at facilities in Israel but has declined to comment on specific cases. It plans a phase out of the Sde Teiman camp in the Negev desert which was cited both in the U.N. report and by Palestinians rights group as a location of detainee abuse.

Reports of mistreatment of detainees in Israeli prisons have been growing in recent months.

Generally they were held in secret, without being given a reason for their detention or access to a lawyer, the report said.

FORCED TO STRIP

The issue of detainees has added to international pressure on Israel over its conduct of the Gaza war, now approaching the start of its 11th month. In May, the U.S. State Department said it was looking into allegations of Israeli abuse of Palestinian detainees.

It is also sparking domestic tensions in Israel where this week right-wing protesters broke into military compounds where Israeli soldiers were due to be questioned as part of an investigation into alleged abuse of a Palestinian detainee.

The U.N. report also referred to dire conditions endured by Israeli hostages in Gaza, including lack of fresh air, sunlight and beatings, citing testimonies from those freed.

The Palestinian detainees held in Israel are mostly men and boys and included a range of people such as residents, doctors and nurses and their patients, as well as captured Palestinian fighters, the report said.

Some were subject to sexual violence, it said, without giving the number of incidents.

The report, which was shared with Israel's government and Palestinian authorities, did not say how many detainees have since been released. A U.N. spokesperson said it was impossible to determine.

(Reporting by Emma Farge; Editing by Daniel Wallis)


Palestinians detained in Israel ‘subjected to waterboarding’, says UN

Our Foreign Staff
THE TELEGRAPH
Wed, July 31, 2024 

Some of Israel's Palestinian prisoners who were released this week - Anadolu


Palestinians detained by Israel during the war in Gaza have largely been held in secret and in some cases subjected to treatment that may amount to torture, the United Nations said on Wednesday.

Since Oct 7, thousands of Palestinians – including medics, patients, residents and captured fighters – have been taken from Gaza to Israel, “usually shackled and blindfolded”, while thousands more have been detained in the West Bank and Israel, the OHCHR UN human rights office said in a report.

“They have generally been held in secret, without being given a reason for their detention, access to a lawyer or effective judicial review,” OHCHR said.

At least 53 detainees from Gaza and the West Bank have died in Israeli detention since the Gaza war began, the report found.

“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 UN human rights chief Volker Turk.

He called on all parties to the conflict to implement a ceasefire, ensure full respect for international law and ensure accountability for violations and abuses.

People gather in Ramallah, West Bank, to demand the release of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails - Anadolu

The report, “Detention in the context of the escalation of hostilities in Gaza”, covers the period from Oct 7 to June 30.

It said that there were “reasonable grounds to believe” that since the start of the war, Israel and Palestinian armed groups had “committed gross violations and abuses... of the rights to life, liberty and freedom from torture and other ill-treatment as well as rape and other forms of sexual violence, all of which may also amount to war crimes”.

The Oct 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel that started the war resulted in the deaths of 1,197 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

Militants also seized 251 hostages, 111 of whom are still held captive in Gaza, including 39 the military says are dead.

Israel’s retaliatory military campaign in Gaza has killed at least 39,400 people, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run Palestinian territory, which does not provide details on civilian and militant deaths.

UN report says Palestinians detained by Israeli authorities since Oct. 7 faced torture, mistreatment

JAMEY KEATEN
Updated Wed, July 31, 2024 

FILE - Israeli soldiers gather at the gate to the Sde Teiman military base, as people protest in support of soldiers being questioned for detainee abuse, July 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov, File)


GENEVA (AP) — The U.N. human rights office issued a report Wednesday saying Palestinians detained by Israeli authorities since the Oct. 7 attacks faced waterboarding, sleep deprivation, electric shocks, dogs set on them, and other forms of torture and mistreatment.

The report said Israel’s prison service held more than 9,400 “security detainees” as of the end of June, and some have been held in secret without access to lawyers or respect for their legal rights.

A summary of the report, based on interviews with former detainees and other sources, decried a “staggering” number of detainees — including men, women, children, journalists and human rights defenders — and said such practices raise concerns about arbitrary 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 U.N. Human Rights Chief Volker Türk in a statement.

Findings in the report, one of the most extensive of its kind, could be used by International Criminal Court prosecutors who are looking into crimes committed in connection with Hamas' Oct. 7 attacks and Israel’s blistering ongoing military campaign in Gaza.

In May, the ICC's chief prosecutor sought arrest warrants for leaders of Israel and Hamas, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, over war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip and Israel.

Authors of the report said its content was shared with the Israeli government.

In response, the Israeli military said that abuse of detainees was illegal and against military orders. It said since the war began there have been cases where correctional staff have been dismissed for violating military rules in their treatment of detainees. Investigations are launched into all detainee deaths in custody, it said.

Israel's prison services did not respond to an Associated Press request for comment.

Israel's prison authorities previously told the AP that all Palestinian prisoners are treated according to Israeli law. However, Israel’s Ministry of National Security, the body in charge of prisons, says it has actively made conditions worse and purposefully overcrowded cells for Palestinians held on security charges since the war broke out as a policy of deterrence.

The ministry is headed by ultranationalist minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who has long called for harsher punishment, including the death penalty, for Palestinians held on terror charges.

The report also said detainees were taken from Gaza, Israel and the West Bank, and says Israel has not provided information regarding the fate or whereabouts of many, adding that the International Committee of the Red Cross has been denied access to facilities where they are held.

“Detainees said they were held in cage-like facilities, stripped naked for prolonged periods, wearing only diapers. Their testimonies told of prolonged blindfolding, deprivation of food, sleep and water, and being subjected to electric shocks and being burnt with cigarettes,” a summary of the report said.

“Some detainees said dogs were released on them, and others said they were subjected to waterboarding, or that their hands were tied and they were suspended from the ceiling,” it added. “Some women and men also spoke of sexual and gender-based violence.”

The report said the Palestinian Authority, which administers parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, had also “continued to carry out arbitrary detention and torture or other ill-treatment in the West Bank, reportedly principally to suppress criticism and political opposition.”

In New York, when asked at a news briefing about U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ reaction to the report, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said: “Our reaction is one of shock and one of horror in seeing these reports,” adding that it’s “critical that there be accountability for those responsible.”

On Wednesday, an Israeli military court extended the detention of eight out of nine soldiers being held over what a defense lawyer said were allegations of sexual abuse of a Palestinian at Sde Teiman — a shadowy facility where Israel has held prisoners from Gaza during the war. The soldiers’ detention triggered angry protests by supporters demanding their release.

The war in Gaza erupted after Hamas ’ surprise attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing some 1,200 people that day and taking 250 others hostage. Israel’s retaliatory operation has obliterated entire neighborhoods in Gaza and forced some 80% of the population to flee their homes. Over 39,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry which doesn't distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count.

___

Associated Press writers Jack Jeffery in Ramallah, West Bank, and Jennifer Peltz at the United Nations in New York contributed to this report.


UN report finds Palestinian detainees subjected to abuse in Israeli prisons

Brad Dress
Wed, July 31, 2024 


A United Nations report released Wednesday said Palestinian detainees were subjected to torture and abuse while in Israeli custody.

The United Nations Human Rights Office report investigated Palestinian detentions from October to the end of June and found those detained are sometimes imprisoned without a clear reason and generally held in prolonged secret detention, sometimes for weeks or months. Many are held without trial or even charges.

Israeli prison guards often raid jail cells, take personal items and deny access to hygiene items, while cells are generally overcrowded, food is restricted and detainees are exposed to cold weather.

Palestinian prisoners, including women and children, are also subjected to beatings, threats and humiliation, the U.N. said, and are denied access to legal counsel, prayer and contact with family.

Some specific abuses include electric shocking, cigarette burns, sleep deprivation, forced consumption of hallucinogenic pills and kneeling on gravel. There have also been some reports of sexual assault, the U.N. report found.

U.N. Human Rights High Commissioner Volker Türk said he was concerned about a large number of Palestinians being subjected to punishment and abuse in Israeli prisons.

“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 in a statement.

Israeli officials have not responded to the report but have generally considered the United Nations to be biased against Israel.

The U.N. report also called out Hamas for subjecting the hostages taken from Israel to similar abuses and horrific conditions, while calling for a cease-fire and hostage release deal between the Palestinian militant group and the Israeli military.

The U.N. Human Rights Office said it talked with Palestinian released detainees, witnesses, Israeli and Palestinian government officials, human rights groups and other U.N. agencies for the report.

Israel has taken thousands of Palestinians from Gaza and the West Bank into custody since the war with Hamas began in October, including women and children and more than 300 medical staff detained during raids on hospitals in Gaza, according to the U.N.

Israel has been accused of abusing its prisoners and has faced particular accusations of crimes committed at the Sde Teiman military base, which is also acting as a prison during the war. The Associated Press and Washington Post have documented abuses at the facility.

Earlier this week, the Israeli military detained nine of its own soldiers who were accused of abusing a prisoner. The arrests sparked protests from far-right Israelis and calls for their release, including from high-ranking government officials. Some protesters broke into the military base where the soldiers were held.

The war began on Oct. 7 after Hamas invaded southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people and taking another 250 hostage. About 116 hostages, 44 of whom are believed dead, are still in Gaza, where more than 39,000 Palestinians have died in the conflict.


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