Gaza Herald_ A new United Nations assessment has concluded that Israel is effectively running a “de facto” state policy of torture against Palestinian detainees.
The UN Committee Against Torture stated on Friday that the torture and mistreatment carried out by Israeli authorities is “systematic and widespread,” and has escalated dramatically since Israel launched its war on Gaza on 7 October 2023.
According to the committee, Israel still lacks any domestic legislation that criminalizes torture, and its legal framework allows state officials to evade responsibility through the so-called “necessity” exception, enabling them to avoid prosecution.
“The committee is gravely alarmed by evidence pointing to a de facto state policy involving organized and extensive use of torture and ill-treatment during the period under review, which has sharply intensified since 7 October 2023,” the report stated.
It added that several Israeli policies imposed across the occupied Palestinian territory, if carried out as documented, would constitute cruel, inhuman, or degrading conditions for the Palestinian population.
The publication of the report also follows global outrage over footage appearing to show Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank shooting dead two unarmed Palestinian men.
On Friday, the UN declared that the incident in the occupied West Bank appeared to be a clear case of “summary execution.”
“We are horrified by the blatant killing of two Palestinian men in Jenin yesterday by Israeli border police,” said UN human rights spokesperson Jeremy Laurence in Geneva, describing it as “yet another apparent summary execution,” referring to Thursday’s killings.
He added that UN human rights chief Volker Türk is urging “independent, swift and effective investigations into the killings of Palestinians,” insisting that those responsible for unlawful killings and other violations in the occupied West Bank “must be held fully accountable.”
Under the Geneva Conventions and international law, summary execution constitutes a war crime.
The incident gained widespread attention after a video circulated on social media showing the two men stepping out of a building with their hands raised and their shirts lifted to show they were unarmed, moments before Israeli forces shot them.
