More: The U.N. human rights office issued a report Wednesday saying Palestinians detained by Israeli authorities since the Oct. 7 attacks faced waterboarding, sleep deprivation, electric shocks, dogs set on them, and other forms of torture and mistreatment.
The report said Israel's prison service held more than 9,400 "security detainees" as of the end of June, and some have been held in secret without access to lawyers or respect for their legal rights.
A summary of the report, based on interviews with former detainees and other sources, decried a "staggering" number of detainees " including men, women, children, journalists and human rights defenders " and said such practices raise concerns about arbitrary detention.
"The testimonies gathered by my office and other entities indicate a range of appalling acts, such as waterboarding and the release of dogs on detainees, amongst other acts, in flagrant violation of international human rights law and international humanitarian law," said U.N. Human Rights Chief Volker Trk in a statement.
Israel's prison authorities previously told the AP that all Palestinian prisoners are treated according to Israeli law. However, Israel's Ministry of National Security, the body in charge of prisons, says it has actively made conditions worse and purposefully overcrowded cells for Palestinians held on security charges since the war broke out as a policy of deterrence.
The ministry is headed by ultranationalist minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who has long called for harsher punishment, including the death penalty, for Palestinians held on terror charges.
"Detainees said they were held in cage-like facilities, stripped naked for prolonged periods, wearing only diapers. Their testimonies told of prolonged blindfolding, deprivation of food, sleep and water, and being subjected to electric shocks and being burnt with cigarettes," a summary of the report said.
"Some detainees said dogs were released on them, and others said they were subjected to waterboarding, or that their hands were tied and they were suspended from the ceiling," it added. "Some women and men also spoke of sexual and gender-based violence."
