UN committee accuses Israelis of “sexual abuse and dehumanization” of prisoners

A UN commission investigating human rights violations in the occupied Palestinian territories accused Israeli occupation forces (IOF) on Tuesday of raping, humiliating and dehumanizing Palestinian men, women and children in their custody.

The statement said: “Several stakeholders reported a sharp increase in sexual harassment, sexual abuse, threats of rape and rape itself, including with foreign objects, against men, women and even children, as well as intimidation through the use of dogs.”

The Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices with Respect to the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs in the Occupied Territories said its members were “shocked” by the level of impunity enjoyed by IOF, which had committed horrific violations of Palestinian rights.

According to the committee, they “publicly and shamelessly share photos on social media platforms that violate the privacy and intimacy of Palestinian women and aim to mock, shame and humiliate them.”

Israeli soldiers released images of themselves playing and wearing the underwear of killed or displaced Palestinian women during raids on civilian homes in the Gaza Strip. pic.twitter.com/qOhCN1Xn0B

— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) June 7, 2024

On June 12, an independent global body under the auspices of the UN declared that Israeli authorities were responsible for several war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Gaza since October 7, 2023.

Read more: UN Special Rapporteur condemns Israel’s use of Palestinians as human shields

In March, an internal report by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine (UNRWA) detailed violence against Palestinian detainees in Israeli detention camps, including beatings, dog attacks, excessive use of stress positions and sexual assault.

Based on interviews with over 1,000 Palestinian detainees released since December in the presence of UNRWA staff at the Karam Abu Salem border crossing, the report said the detainees included 29 children aged six or older (26 boys and three girls), 80 women and 21 UNRWA staff, some of whom suffered from chronic illnesses such as Alzheimer’s or cancer.

“Detainees reported being taken on trucks to large makeshift ‘military barracks’, each housing 100 to 120 people. They were often held there for weeks, between interrogations at a nearby location,” the UNRWA document said.

The report contained allegations of widespread sexual assault but made no mention of rape, even though rape is known to be a form of torture in Israeli prisons and an earlier UN report claimed otherwise. Women reported being groped while blindfolded, and many male prisoners said they were beaten on the genitals.

Released Palestinian prisoners report atrocities in Israeli prisons

Palestinian prisoners recently released by the Israeli occupation forces have spoken out about the torture they endured at the hands of Israeli prison guards, including inhumane treatment and abuse.

Palestinians who have been held without charge by “Israel” since the beginning of the Gaza war have told harrowing stories of systematic abuse by prison staff and reported beatings by Israeli troops.

At Kamal Adwan Hospital in Gaza, they reported violent and degrading treatment, including blindfolding and shackling the prisoners in small cages.

“We left, but we ask you to take the rest out,” pleaded former prisoner Ataa Shbat from Kamal Adwan Hospital in Gaza after his release.

Shbat said many prisoners thought their families thought they were dead.

“People are dying. Torture you can’t imagine unless you experience it. Suffering you can’t imagine unless you experience it,” he recalled.

Former prisoner Aalam Hijazi stated that “prisoners were dying every day” as the lack of food and medicine allowed diseases to “eat away at their bodies.” He recalled wearing the same clothes since the war began and that even the water was not drinkable.