Israel faced questioning at the UN this week concerning numerous reports accusing it of torturing Palestinian detainees, especially following the Hamas attacks on October 7, 2023. This scrutiny took place during Israel’s regular review before the UN Committee against Torture.
Peter Vedel Kessing, the committee’s rapporteur, expressed deep concern over multiple alternative reports describing what seems to be systematic and widespread torture and ill-treatment of Palestinians, including children.
He stated that torture is alleged to have become a deliberate and broadly used state policy, applied at every stage—from arrest through interrogation to imprisonment. The Committee against Torture, made up of ten independent experts, oversees how countries comply with the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
Citing various reports, Kessing said that since the attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which led to the retaliatory war in Gaza, cases of torture and abuse have increased to unprecedented levels, occurring with impunity. Many detainees released later have reportedly been subjected to torture and other abuses, including severe beatings (even to the genitals), electric shocks, forced prolonged stress positions, inhumane conditions, starvation, waterboarding, and frequent sexual insults and threats of rape.
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