From the Liveblog of
Friday, March 8, 2024
UN expert probes treatment of those detained by IDF, says Palestinian mission was dismissive of Oct. 7 atrocities
The United Nations expert on torture says she is investigating allegations of torture and mistreatment of Palestinian detainees in Israel, and was in talks to visit the country.
Speaking to Reuters on the sidelines of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Dr. Alice Jill Edwards says she has recently received allegations of torture and ill-treatment of Palestinians being detained in the West Bank or as a result of the conflict in Gaza, where Israel is fighting the ruling Palestinian Hamas movement.
“I’m looking into that as we speak and carrying out a fact-finding investigation,” says Edwards, the UN Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
“I’m calling on … Hamas, the state of Palestine, Israel to put their torture tools down, to really have a focus on peace and a prospect of living side-by-side as neighbors in the future.”
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli diplomatic mission in Geneva, but the IDF has denied allegations in the past of mistreating detainees, saying it acts according to international law.
The UN human rights office says it has received numerous reports of mass detention, ill-treatment and enforced disappearance of Palestinians in northern Gaza by the Israeli military, and has recorded the arrests of thousands in the West Bank.
Edwards said she had also raised allegations of mass murders and mutilations of hostages and sexual violence against them with Palestinian authorities through the Palestinian Permanent Mission in Geneva.
She says she had, however, received “a disappointing reply” that “showed no empathy for those individuals who were subject to terrible atrocities on the 7th of October.”
The mission did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Israel says Palestinian militants killed around 1,200 Israelis and abducted 253 on Oct. 7. The health ministry in Gaza says Israel has killed almost 31,000 Palestinians in its retaliatory offensive.
