Hamas on Thursday accused Israel of engaging in the systematic killing and torture of Palestinian detainees in its prisons and called for immediate international action to stop the alleged abuses, which it asserts constitute war crimes under international humanitarian law.
Hamas cited data published by Israeli human rights groups indicating that 94 Palestinian prisoners have died in Israeli custody since the war in Gaza began in October 2023.
Hamas described Israeli prisons as “direct killing grounds” and detailed a pattern of alleged violations, including severe beatings, scalding with boiling water, dog attacks and sexual assaults, which it claims are corroborated by first-hand testimonies and human rights documentation.
The detailed report by the human rights NGOs to the United Nations Committee Against Torture claimed that Israel has intensified its violations of the UN Convention Against Torture.
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“Israel has dismantled existing safeguards and now employs torture throughout the entire detention process – from arrest to imprisonment – targeting Palestinians under occupation and Palestinian citizens, with senior officials sanctioning these abuses while judicial and administrative mechanisms fail to intervene,” the report claimed.
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According to the report, Israel justifies the detention of Palestinians by relying on legal frameworks that do not comply with international law, such as the classification of Palestinians as “unlawful combatants” which allows Israel to detain prisoners for extended periods without trial, while also denying them the rights afforded to prisoners of war.
Throughout the war, Israel detained more than 4,000 Gaza residents under this classification and also made extensive use of administrative detention, an emergency provision first used during the British mandate in Palestine, which allows prisoners to be held without trial.
The Israel security agency Shin Bet does not acknowledge being responsible for torture, but admits to employing “special interrogation methods” – which include sleep deprivation, painful shackling, shaking, exposure to cold, loud music, interrogation while naked and threats against family members – often claiming that such extreme methods are necessary to gain information which may prevent militant attacks already being planned.
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According to figures from Palestinian, Israeli and international human rights organisations, more than 10,000 Palestinians, including women and children, are being held in Israeli prisons.
Despite the large number of complaints and documented abuses, the number of investigations opened remains negligible and only in a handful of cases are perpetrators brought to justice and disciplined.
Calls for accountability are frequently dismissed as unpatriotic or hostile, particularly after Israel went to war following the well-documented atrocities committed by Hamas during the October 7th, 2023, attack on southern Israel.
Israeli representatives who appeared before the UN Committee Against Torture earlier this month claimed the Israeli judicial system provides oversight of what occurs in prisons and detention centres.
