A coalition of ten UN human rights experts has condemned the international community’s “silence” in the face of allegations concerning the torture of Palestinian detainees by Israeli forces.
They cautioned that reports of maltreatment and sexual violence at Israel’s Sde Teiman prison “only represent the tip of the iceberg”.
The independent experts disclosed that they have received “substantiated reports” detailing extensive abuse, including torture, sexual assault, and rape, inflicted upon Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons.
“Countless testimonies by men and women speak of detainees in cage-like enclosures, tied to beds blindfolded and in diapers, stripped naked, deprived of adequate healthcare, food, water and sleep, electrocutions including on their genitals, blackmail and cigarette burns,” they said in a statement. “In addition, victims spoke of loud music played until their ears bled, attacks by dogs, waterboarding, suspension from ceilings and severe sexual and gender-based violence.”
The experts called on the international community to ramp up pressure on Israel, stating that the “allegations of gang rape of a Palestinian detainee – now shockingly supported by voices in the Israeli political establishment and society – provide irrefutable evidence that the moral compass is lost”. They also urged the UN Human Rights Council, in particular, to urgently launch an inquiry into Israeli facilities holding Palestinians.
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