Gazans released from Israeli detention described graphic scenes of physical abuse in testimonies collected by United Nations staff, according to a report. The report was released on Tuesday by UNRWA, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees.
The report said Palestinian detainees described being forced to kneel for hours with their hands tied and blindfolded, being denied food and water, and having their bodies urinated on, among other methods. another insult. According to the report, others described being severely beaten with metal bars or gun butts and boots, or being locked in cages and attacked by dogs.
The New York Times has not interviewed witnesses who spoke to UNRWA aid workers and could not independently verify their accounts. None of the witnesses were cited by name. However, some of the statements in the report matched accounts provided to The Times by more than a dozen released detainees and their relatives. in Januarywho spoke of beatings and harsh interrogations.
Israeli forces have arrested thousands of Gazans in a six-month campaign against Hamas, the Palestinian armed group. The Israeli army said it arrested people suspected of links to Hamas and other groups, but women, children and the elderly were also detained, according to the UNRWA report.
The Israeli army and the Israeli prime minister's office did not respond to requests for comment on this report. But asked about similar allegations of abuse in the pastIsraeli officials said the detainees were held according to the law and their basic rights were respected.
UNRWA staff collected statements from more than 100 released Gazans who arrived at the Kerem Shalom border crossing over several months. Palestinian doctors would occasionally take released prisoners who were injured or sick directly to area hospitals, the report said, adding that they sometimes showed “signs of trauma and were treated poorly.”
Many of the detainees were taken to military detention facilities inside Israel, from where many of them were later transferred to Israeli civilian prisons. The report said at least 1,500 detainees had been released by Israeli authorities at Kerem Shalom as of April 4.
The UNRWA report said the treatment of detainees in prison included “being beaten while being forced to lie on a thin mattress on rubble for many hours without food or water.” or the toilet, with his legs and arms tied with plastic straps.” speak.
In the report, a released prisoner described how an Israeli officer threatened to kill her entire family in an airstrike if she did not provide more information to the Israelis. Another said he was forced to sit on an electric probe that burned his anus.
The UNRWA report said some freed Gazans told aid workers that they had been beaten in the genitals, subjected to intense searches and sexually groped. The report said women said they were forced to undress in front of male officers, suggesting that some incidents “may have resulted in violence and sexual harassment.”
In presenting the findings of UNRWA's draft report were leaked last monthThe Israeli military said any mistreatment of detainees is “absolutely prohibited”, adding that all “specific complaints related to inappropriate behavior are referred to the authorities”. relevant to consider”. It said medical care was available to all detainees and that mistreatment of detainees “violates the values of the IDF.”
The Israeli military said last month it was aware of the deaths of 27 Palestinians in its custody, at least some of whom were injured. And at least 10 Palestinians, mostly from the West Bank, have died in Israel's civilian prison system since October 7, according to the official commission on Palestinian prisoners and Israeli human rights groups, including include Doctors for Human Rights-IsraelDoctors attended several autopsies.
UNRWA, the main provider of humanitarian assistance in Gaza, has come under scrutiny in recent months after Israel accused it of harboring scores of Hamas members within its ranks. Major foreign donors, including the United States, subsequently suspended funding to the agency, although some have resumed it.
Israel said at least 30 of the group's 13,000 employees in Gaza took part in a Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7 or later.
In response to the allegations, UNRWA fired staff accused of being Hamas members. Two investigations have been opened into the allegations – one by the United Nations' internal investigation agency and one by independent evaluators appointed by the UN secretary-general.
In a report released Tuesday, UNRWA said some of its staff were beaten, threatened, stripped, humiliated and abused while in Israeli government custody. They said that during interrogations they were pressured to say that UNRWA was affiliated with Hamas and that its operatives were involved in the October 7 attack.
