Palestinians detained by Israeli authorities since the Oct. 7 attacks suffered waterboarding, sleep deprivation and other forms of torture and mistreatment, according to the U.N. human rights office.
What's new: A report on Wednesday from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, or OHCHR, said more than 9,400 Palestinian “security detainees” were being held by the Israelis, some in secret without lawyers or regard for their legal rights.
What's next: International Criminal Court prosecutors could use OHCHR's report to bolster its investigation into suspected war crimes in Gaza linked to Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks and Israel’s retaliatory war.
Volker Türk, who heads OHCHR, said the 23-page report indicates "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."
What's important: Detainees have been held in cage-like facilities and stripped naked for prolonged periods, wearing only diapers, according to the report, which also points to withholding of food and water, sleep deprivation, blindfolding, electric shocks and cigarette burns.
“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 said. “Some women and men also spoke of sexual and gender-based violence.”
Who's involved: The ICC chief prosecutor asked for arrest warrants in May for the leaders of Hamas and Israel on charges of suspected war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The report says the detainees were taken from Gaza, Israel and the West Bank and the International Committee of the Red Cross, which oversees the international rules for the treatment of prisoners of war, has no access to the detention facilities.
What's happening now: Women and children in camps for internally displaced people have testified that their husbands, fathers, brothers or siblings were taken away by Israel's defense forces from various parts of Gaza and have not heard anything about their fate or well-being since then, the report says.
"They do not know if those detained are alive or dead," it says. "OHCHR is concerned that Israel has failed to respect basic principles of international human rights law in relation to Palestinians taken into custody in Gaza, for example by holding most of them in secret and incommunicado detention for prolonged periods (in many cases extending into months), without providing them with information on the grounds and basis of their detention."
