Israel’s Systematic Torture of Palestinian Detainees Surges Post-October 2023: Report
Since the Gaza war began on 7 October, 2023, Israel has significantly escalated its use of torture, starvation, and severe abuses against Palestinian detainees. A recent report submitted by Israeli human rights organizations to the UN Committee Against Torture highlights these alarming findings, as reported by Haaretz.
Adalah, the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI), HaMoked, and other leading human rights groups prepared the submission, claiming Israel deliberately dismantled the legal safeguards designed to protect detainees.
Consequently, the report emphasizes that torture and ill-treatment start at the point of arrest and continue throughout imprisonment, resulting in minimal judicial intervention.
Systemic Abuse and Unlawful Designation
The organizations highlighted the extensive, unlawful use of the “unlawful combatant” classification, which international law does not recognize. Consequently, authorities have detained over 4,000 Palestinians from Gaza under this contentious designation since the conflict began.
Furthermore, the use of administrative detention has sharply increased from 1,100 pre-war cases to 3,500 by September 2025, significantly extending periods of detention without trial.
The report describes Israeli forces holding detainees in outdoor pens, exposing them to extreme weather, keeping them blindfolded and shackled. Additionally, officials forced prisoners to sleep on the bare ground without any bedding and severely restricted access to toilets, forcing many detainees to rely on diapers. When staff provided medical care, they frequently administered treatment while keeping the injured or sick detainees restrained.
Food Deprivation and Physical Torture
Food deprivation remains widespread; for instance, prisoners reportedly received no more than 1,000 calories and only 40 grams of protein daily. Authorities also provided detainees with expired or spoiled food, which caused severe weight loss, resulting in some losing nearly half their body weight.
The report documented multiple forms of physical and psychological torture, including systematic beatings with batons and burns inflicted by boiling water. They also described painful restraint positions, exposure to freezing temperatures, and attacks by dogs used by their captors. Moreover, guards confined detainees in the infamous “Disco Room,” forcing them to endure deafening music for extended periods as psychological torment.
Investigations and Accountability Failures
Since October 2023, at least 94 detainees have died in custody, including three prisoners who died during Shin Bet interrogations. Significantly, although torture complaints increased to 238 over the past two years, prosecutors filed no subsequent indictments.
Critics have described military and prison investigations as largely ineffective; for example, the army opened 58 inquiries, including 44 related to deaths, but only two led to formal charges. The Prison Service initiated 36 investigations, resulting in six indictments, yet none involved deaths or sexual violence. Consequently, Israel’s Supreme Court rejected most petitions detainees submitted seeking urgently needed improved conditions. Over 10,000 Palestinians, including numerous women and children, currently remain held in Israeli prisons, and the report noted hundreds of detainees from Gaza are still unaccounted for.
Rising Sexual Violence and Calls for Action
In a related development, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) released a new report highlighting a sharp rise in sexual violence and targeted humiliation based on testimonies from recently freed detainees. PCHR detailed that the latest cases frequently involve women and minors held incommunicado and prisoners subjected to severe sexualized threats and coercion. Authorities deliberately used gender-based intimidation to attempt to extract confessions and employed specific humiliation techniques designed to psychologically break detainees.
PCHR stated that authorities denied international monitoring bodies, including the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), access to many detention sites, leaving prisoners without protection. The organization urgently warned that “thousands of Palestinian detainees face the risk of certain death,” demanding the immediate release of arbitrarily detained prisoners and clarification about the fate of the forcibly disappeared. Specifically, PCHR called for immediate, unrestricted ICRC access to all Israeli detention facilities to ensure accountability.
Separately, the Israeli Knesset has approved, in a preliminary reading, a contentious bill introducing the death penalty for individuals convicted of “terrorism.” Public broadcaster KAN reported the preliminary vote passed with 39 legislators in favor and 16 against. Consequently, rights groups warn the severe measure could significantly increase risks for detainees already facing harsh and unacceptable treatment.
