Gaza Herald – Palestinian prisoner advocacy organizations said on Friday that torture inside Israeli detention facilities has become a systematic and institutionalized policy since the beginning of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, exposing thousands of Palestinian detainees to daily abuse and inhumane treatment.
In a joint statement marking the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, observed annually on June 26, the organizations said Israeli detention facilities have evolved into “factories of torture,” where detainees are subjected to starvation, humiliation, dehumanization, and severe physical and psychological abuse.
The groups said torture has affected all categories of Palestinian detainees, including children, women, elderly prisoners, the wounded, and those suffering from chronic illnesses, stressing that the practices as serious violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law.
According to the statement, hundreds of documented testimonies indicate that torture is no longer the result of isolated misconduct but rather an official policy implemented throughout Israel’s detention system, involving soldiers, prison guards, interrogators, prison authorities, and senior political officials.
The organizations said abuse begins at the moment of detention, with physical assaults, threats, enforced disappearance, and painful restraints, before continuing inside detention facilities through methods including stress positions, electric shocks, burning, prolonged sleep deprivation, denial of food, water, and medical care, deliberate humiliation, and documented cases of sexual violence.
They also warned that detention conditions themselves have become a form of continuous torture, citing systematic starvation, medical neglect, and the spread of infectious diseases, particularly scabies. Testimonies from detainees kidnapped in Gaza, they said, report severe abuses inside Israeli detention camps, including amputations without anesthesia, denial of medical treatment, sexual assaults, summary executions, and the use of detainees as human shields.
The organizations further noted that reports issued by United Nations bodies during 2025 and 2026, including the UN Committee Against Torture, UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese, and the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry, documented a pattern of systematic torture, sexual violence, and other serious abuses that may constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity.
They added that Israel’s continued refusal to allow the International Committee of the Red Cross and independent international monitors access to detainees, along with restrictions imposed on lawyers and human rights organizations, has obstructed efforts to document violations and preserve evidence.
The statement called on the international community and the United Nations to invoke the principle of universal jurisdiction to prosecute Israeli officials responsible for torture, impose effective international sanctions, ensure immediate access for independent monitoring bodies to all detention facilities, and provide international protection for Palestinian detaineesl.
The organizations stressed that the prohibition of torture is a peremptory norm of international law that cannot be suspended or justified under any circumstances, including war, states of emergency, or security considerations, and urged immediate action to prevent further abuses and hold those responsible accountable.
