‘Sexual assault, dog attacks…’: UN report reveals abuse faced by Palestinians in Israeli detention centres

livemint.com:

Israel and Hamas war has entered its fifth month. Skirmishes that inflated into a genocidal war Israel unleashed upon Gaza in retaliation has now killed over 30,000 Palestinians.

A recent report by the United Nations (UN) has revealed that almost 4,000 Palestinians, who have been detained by Israel, were subjected to abuse including beatings, dog attacks, the prolonged use of stress positions and sexual assault. The report was compiled by the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine (UNRWA) and is largely based on interviews of Palestinian detainees released at the Kerem Shalom crossing point since December, when UNRWA staff were present to provide humanitarian support.

According to reports, Israel has taken over 4,00 detainees from Gaza since October 2023. Only over 1,000 detainees have been released since December by Benjamin Netanyahu's government.

The inflation of war between Israel and Hamas was triggered by Hamas' multi-pronged raids into southern Israel on 7 October which killed about 1,200 Israelis. “(Palestinian) Detainees reported being taken on trucks to large makeshift ‘military barracks’ housing 100-120 people each, where they were held, often for weeks at a time, in between periods of interrogation at a nearby location," the UNRWA document said, in allegations first reported by the New York Times.

The UN report claims the worst abuse occurs in these detention and interrogation centres before the detainees are transferred to the Israeli prison system. The UNRWA report says: “Methods of ill-treatment reported included physical beatings, forced stress positions for extended periods of time, threats of harm to detainees and their families, attacks by dogs, insults to personal dignity and humiliation such as