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Days of Palestine
03-08-2025
- Politics
- Days of Palestine
UN Hears of Torture, Rape of Palestinian Detainees
DaysofPal – The United Nations has received harrowing testimony detailing widespread torture and abuse of Palestinian detainees by Israeli authorities since Oct. 7, 2023, intensifying calls for an independent international investigation. The submission was made by the Palestinian Return Centre (PRC), a UK-based organization with special consultative status at the UN Economic and Social Council, according to The National. The testimony draws on documentation by Khaled Mahajneh, a lawyer with the Palestinian Authority's Commission for Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs, and highlights what the PRC described as a sharp escalation of systematic mistreatment. According to the PRC, detainees reported severe physical beatings, deliberate starvation, prolonged suspension in painful positions, medical neglect leading to deaths, dog attacks, and amputations conducted without anesthesia. One documented case included the rape of a Palestinian detainee by an Israeli prison guard. The organization said the accounts were corroborated by internationally recognized human rights groups, including Physicians for Human Rights–Israel and B'Tselem. Most Gaza detainees are allegedly held in undisclosed military facilities, including Anatot and Sde Teiman camps. The PRC reported that these sites operate with no legal oversight, while detainees are denied access to lawyers and barred from International Committee of the Red Cross visits. Israeli occupation authorities have labeled many detainees as 'unlawful combatants' or 'terrorists,' a designation the PRC said is used to sidestep international humanitarian protections. The group called for the immediate formation of an independent international inquiry into torture and sexual violence and urged that these cases be included in ongoing International Criminal Court investigations. The PRC warned that continued international silence or symbolic condemnation 'amounts to political complicity' in what it describes as ongoing violations of Palestinian detainees' basic human rights. Shortlink for this post:
The National
01-08-2025
- Politics
- The National
Gaza detainees tortured and raped by Israeli forces, UN hears
The briefing is based on a documented testimony by Khaled Mahajneh, a lawyer affiliated with the Palestinian Authority's Commission for Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs, and outlines Israel's use of systematic torture methods against Palestinian detainees. Testimony highlighted various torture methods inflicted on detainees, including severe beatings, deliberate starvation, prolonged suspension in painful positions, medical neglect leading to death, attacks with dogs, and the amputation of limbs without anesthesia. READ MORE: Israel kill 37 in Gaza as US special envoy Steve Witkoff visits aid sites According to the briefing, the accounts have been corroborated by international human rights organisations such as Physicians for Human Rights–Israel and B'Tselem. Among the findings, there is a documented case of rape committed by an Israeli prison guard against a Palestinian detainee inside a detention facility. PRC said that the majority of Gaza detainees are held in undisclosed military sites, such as the Anatot and Sde Teiman camps, without access to legal counsel or visits by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). The organisation added that Palestinians held at undisclosed military sites have a heightened risk of being tortured and abused due to being outside the reach of legal oversight. The briefing further noted that Israeli authorities employ 'politically motivated and discriminatory classifications', labelling Gaza detainees as 'unlawful combatants' or 'terrorists,' which denies them the protections of international humanitarian law.
