Israel has sharply escalated its use of torture and severe abuses against Palestinian detainees since the Gaza genocide began in October 2023, Israeli human rights organisations said in a report submitted to the UN Committee Against Torture.
The findings – prepared by Adalah, the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel, Parents Against Child Detention, HaMoked and Physicians for Human Rights–Israel – were included in a joint submission to the UN committee last October as part of its periodic review of Israel’s compliance with the Convention Against Torture, Haaretz reported.
“Since October 7, 2023, Israel has intensified its violations of the UN Convention Against Torture,” the report said, adding that Israel “employs torture throughout the entire detention process targeting Palestinians under occupation and Palestinian citizens, with senior officials sanctioning these abuses while judicial and administrative mechanisms fail to intervene.”
According to the report, Israel has broadly relied on classifying Palestinians as “unlawful combatants” – a designation not recognised under international law – allowing authorities to detain people for extended periods without trial and deny them protections afforded to prisoners of war.
More than 4,000 Gaza residents were held under this classification, alongside extensive use of administrative detention.
Administrative detention has risen sharply, with detainees held without charge increasing from about 1,100 before the genocide to 3,500 by September 2025, with periods of detention doubling.
Widespread torture
Testimonies cited by the organisations said detainees from Gaza were held in “open-air corrals exposed to the elements, shackled and blindfolded around the clock, forced to kneel for most of the day and compelled to sleep on the ground.”
Some detainees “received medical treatment while shackled and blindfolded and were forced to use diapers to relieve themselves.”
The report documented food policies amounting to starvation, with detainees receiving no more than 1,000 calories and 40 grams of protein a day.
It cited the use of batons, boiling water causing severe burns, dog attacks, a “Disco Room” employing intense sensory manipulation and “rape with objects.”
The groups said at least 94 detainees have died in Israeli custody since the carnage began, with dozens more suffering irreversible health damage.
Complaints of torture during Shin Bet interrogations rose from 66 cases over two decades to 238 in two years.
Only two investigations were recommended, none leading to indictments, while three detainees died during interrogation.
The Shin Bet denies using torture but acknowledges employing “special interrogation methods”, including sleep deprivation, painful shackling, shaking, exposure to cold, loud music, interrogation while naked and threats against family members.
Denial of medical care
In the military system, 58 investigations were opened into abuse – 44 relating to deaths – with only two leading to indictments.
In the Prison Service, 36 investigations resulted in six indictments, none involving deaths or sexual assault.
The Supreme Court rejected 18 of 20 petitions seeking improved conditions, the report said, noting that Israel Prison Service facilities “use the denial of medical care as a method of torture.”
Scabies outbreaks affecting thousands of detainees were cited.
The fate of hundreds of Palestinian detainees remains unknown.
According to Haaretz, Israeli representatives from the Foreign Ministry, Justice Ministry and Prison Service appeared before the UN committee about two weeks ago and rejected allegations of violating international law.
More than 10,000 Palestinians, including women and children, remain held in Israeli prisons, where detainees face torture, starvation and medical neglect, according to Palestinian, Israeli and international rights groups.
