Days after Israel was plunged into chaos over allegations of horrific sexual assault against a Palestinian detainee by Israeli soldiers, the UN has released a report detailing the many instances of systemic torture and abuse that Israeli soldiers and police have performed on Palestinians they are imprisoning arbitrarily just in the last 10 months of Israel’s genocide.
The 23-page report by the UN Human Rights Office finds that Israeli forces are holding at least 9,400 Palestinians, including many children, in prisons and military facilities, with conditions in military facilities like the infamous Sde Teiman being particularly brutal. Israeli officers relentlessly torture detainees, using all variety of methods, encompassing humiliation, deprivation of basic needs, and physical abuse. The report also includes numerous testimonies from survivors of rape by Israeli guards.
The abuse, rape and torture of Palestinians held prisoner, who include numerous journalists, health care workers and humanitarian staffers, are a blatant violation of a wide variety of international human rights laws, the UN office said.
“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,” UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk said in a statement.
The report, released Wednesday, says it is “impossible” to ascertain the total number of people Israeli forces have killed in their prisons, but the UN is aware of at least 53 Palestinians who have died in Israeli custody since October. Israeli forces are holding at least 15 Palestinians’ bodies, the report found, refusing to release them to their families — which the UN said is possibly a form of collective punishment, a war crime.
The abuses survivors say they’ve experienced are almost too numerous to count. Food, sleep and water deprivation and being held in overcrowded facilities with little to no accommodations appear to be some of the most universal experiences. Many of these practices appear to be official policies of Israeli administrators.
Other methods include being exposed to cold temperatures for long periods of time; attacked by dogs; suspended from the ceiling; forced to hold uncomfortable positions for hours, days or weeks, causing injuries; and “systematic beatings, humiliation and threats,” as the report said; among many other atrocities. Whistleblowers and reports have said that Israeli forces regularly cause injuries so bad that Palestinians either die or are forced to go through medical procedures done by untrained Israelis, like medically unnecessary amputations.
“My hands were tied with handcuffs and I was kept blindfolded all the 55 days I stayed in this detention, you could imagine how difficult it will be to eat sleep or even move, the amount of pain I felt in my hands and back was unbearable,” one Palestinian who was imprisoned told the UN of their experience.
The assessment also details numerous, odious accounts of sexual violence, including physical abuse like electrocution to the genitals and anus, forced nudity and threats of rape. In some cases, Israeli guards recorded nude Palestinians as they sexually abused them.
These are the sorts of abuses that some Israeli lawmakers vehemently defended this week after nine Israeli soldiers were detained due to accusations that they raped a Palestinian in their custody, leaving him with injuries to his anus that were so bad he reportedly couldn’t walk and had to be hospitalized.
On Monday, a mob of Israeli militants broke into Sde Teiman and a military court in Israel to demand the soldiers’ release. Videos of the mobs show hectic scenes, where protesters, some armed, broke into these facilities and shoved up against police while there. But, despite the chaos and violence, none of the protesters were reportedly arrested.
Help us Prepare for Trump’s Day One
Trump is busy getting ready for Day One of his presidency – but so is Truthout.
Trump has made it no secret that he is planning a demolition-style attack on both specific communities and democracy as a whole, beginning on his first day in office. With over 25 executive orders and directives queued up for January 20, he’s promised to “launch the largest deportation program in American history,” roll back anti-discrimination protections for transgender students, and implement a “drill, drill, drill” approach to ramp up oil and gas extraction.
Organizations like Truthout are also being threatened by legislation like HR 9495, the “nonprofit killer bill” that would allow the Treasury Secretary to declare any nonprofit a “terrorist-supporting organization” and strip its tax-exempt status without due process. Progressive media like Truthout that has courageously focused on reporting on Israel’s genocide in Gaza are in the bill’s crosshairs.
As journalists, we have a responsibility to look at hard realities and communicate them to you. We hope that you, like us, can use this information to prepare for what’s to come.
And if you feel uncertain about what to do in the face of a second Trump administration, we invite you to be an indispensable part of Truthout’s preparations.
In addition to covering the widespread onslaught of draconian policy, we’re shoring up our resources for what might come next for progressive media: bad-faith lawsuits from far-right ghouls, legislation that seeks to strip us of our ability to receive tax-deductible donations, and further throttling of our reach on social media platforms owned by Trump’s sycophants.
We’re preparing right now for Trump’s Day One: building a brave coalition of movement media; reaching out to the activists, academics, and thinkers we trust to shine a light on the inner workings of authoritarianism; and planning to use journalism as a tool to equip movements to protect the people, lands, and principles most vulnerable to Trump’s destruction.
We urgently need your help to prepare. As you know, our December fundraiser is our most important of the year and will determine the scale of work we’ll be able to do in 2025. We’ve set two goals: to raise $145,000 in one-time donations and to add 1489 new monthly donors by midnight on December 31.
Today, we’re asking all of our readers to start a monthly donation or make a one-time donation – as a commitment to stand with us on day one of Trump’s presidency, and every day after that, as we produce journalism that combats authoritarianism, censorship, injustice, and misinformation. You’re an essential part of our future – please join the movement by making a tax-deductible donation today.
If you have the means to make a substantial gift, please dig deep during this critical time!
With gratitude and resolve,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy