‘Severe beatings, dog attacks’: UN report accuses Israel of running ‘organized widespread torture’ system; flags human rights violation – The Times of India

A United Nations report has found that Israel maintains “a de facto state policy of organised and widespread torture,” documenting abuses over the past two years and warning of continued impunity for Israeli security forces accused of war crimes.The report, released on Friday as part of the committee’s routine review of countries that have signed the UN Convention Against Torture, stated that Palestinian detainees were subjected to humiliation, including “being made to act like animals or being urinated on,” and were routinely denied medical treatment, as cited by the Guardian.It further noted that detainees faced excessive use of restraints, “in some cases resulting in amputation,” according to the findings.The Committee said it is deeply concerned “over allegations of repeated severe beatings, dog attacks, electrocution, waterboarding, use of prolonged stress positions [and] sexual violence”, highlighting a pattern of grave abuse reported by detainees.The UN committee of 10 independent experts also raised alarm over Israel’s extensive use of its unlawful combatants law, saying it was being applied to justify the prolonged detention of thousands of Palestinian men, women, and children without trial. According to the latest figures from Israeli human rights group B’Tselem, the Israel Prison Service was holding 3,474 Palestinians in “administrative detention”, meaning detention without trial, as of the end of September.The UN report highlights a surge in the detention of Palestinian children since the Gaza war began in October 2023, noting the “high proportion of children who are currently detained without charge or on remand” and pointing out that Israel’s age of criminal responsibility is 12, with even younger children reportedly held. It states that minors classified as security prisoners “have severe restrictions on family contact, may be held in solitary confinement, and do not have access to education,” urging Israel to ban solitary confinement for children. The committee, which monitors compliance with the UN convention against torture, warns that the cumulative impact of Israeli policies in the occupied territories “may amount to torture.”The report said 75 Palestinians have died in custody since the Gaza war began, noting that detention conditions for Palestinians had undergone a “marked deterioration.” It described the death toll as “abnormally high” and affecting only Palestinian detainees, adding that “to date, no state officials have been held responsible or accountable for such deaths.”Israel has consistently denied using torture. The UN committee heard from officials of the foreign ministry, justice ministry and prison service, who maintained that detention conditions were adequate and subject to oversight, as reported by the Guardian.Meanwhile, a report by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) warns that two years of Israeli military operations and longstanding restrictions have driven the occupied territory into an economic freefall, now ranked among the 10 worst collapses globally since 1960. The UN says the occupied Palestinian economy is experiencing its most severe downturn on record, fuelled by the scale of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza and ongoing curbs on movement and trade, as cited by Al Jazeera.