Palestinians ‘beaten and sexually assaulted’ at Israeli detention centres, UN report claims
An IDF truck carrying Palestinian detainees from the Gaza Strip’s Shujaiyeh neighborhood, December 2023
Julian Borger reports in The Guardian on 5 March 2024:
An internal UN report describes widespread abuse of Palestinian detainees in Israeli detention centres, including beatings, dog attacks, the prolonged use of stress positions and sexual assault.
The report was compiled by the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) and is largely based on interviews of Palestinian detainees released at the Kerem Shalom crossing point since December, when UNRWA staff were present to provide humanitarian support.
The report, which has been circulated within the UN and seen by the Guardian, says that just over 1,000 detainees have been released since December. But it estimates that more than 4,000 men, women and children have been rounded up in Gaza since the start of the current conflict, triggered by Hamas raids into southern Israel on 7 October which killed about 1,200 Israelis, mostly civilians.
Israel denies the abuse allegations, which it described as Hamas-inspired propaganda. It has named 12 UNRWA staff it claims took part in the 7 October attack, and claims that 450 of the agency’s 13,000 workers in Gaza are members of Hamas or other militant groups.
The allegations, which are being studied by two separate UN inquiries, have so far not been substantiated. The UNRWA report says that its employees have been detained, many while carrying out aid work, subjected to abuse, and put under pressure to smear the agency.
Their Israeli jailers, it alleges, “through beatings and other mistreatment and threats, sought to elicit operational information and forced confessions”.
The UNRWA report said that among the 1,002 detainees released since December at the Kerem Shalom crossing, there were 29 children as young as six (26 boys and three girls), 80 women and 21 UNRWA staff. Some had chronic conditions such as Alzheimer’s or were cancer patients.