UN panel urges Israel to independently probe Palestinian torture allegations

GENEVA, Switzerland — A UN committee urges Israel to set up an independent investigatory commission to probe claims of torture of Palestinians, and warned the situation had “gravely intensified” since the start of the Gaza war.

The United Nations Committee against Torture says it was “deeply concerned about reports indicating a de facto state policy of organized and widespread torture and ill-treatment” in Israel.

The committee, whose 10 independent experts monitor how countries implement an international convention against torture, stresses that it “unequivocally condemns the attack perpetrated by Hamas and other groups on October 7, 2023, against Israel.”

But in a report published after a regular review of Israel, it “also expressed its deep concern over the disproportionate nature of Israel’s response to these attacks.”

And it decries “a range of policies adopted by Israel in the course of its continued unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory,” warning that it risked leading to “cruel, inhuman or degrading living conditions for the Palestinian population.”

The experts call on Israel to “establish an independent, impartial and effective ad hoc investigatory commission to review and investigate all allegations of torture and ill-treatment committed during the current armed conflict.”