Surge in arbitrary detention of Palestinians in West Bank, and torture is rife, Amnesty says

Israeli authorities are currently holding more than 2,000 Palestinians without charge or trial, with mounting evidence of torture, with detainees stripped, beaten and humiliated, Amnesty International said in a statement on 8 November. 

According to the rights organisation, some detainees are made to sing Israeli songs, and to praise Israel and curse Hamas. 

“The mounting evidence points to multiple incidents of the severe beating and humiliation of detainees - including by forcing them to keep their heads down, to kneel on the floor during inmate counts, and to sing Israeli songs,” the statement read. 

“In one image analysed by Amnesty, three Palestinian men - blindfolded and stripped of their clothes - can be seen beside a soldier wearing a green olive uniform such as those worn by Israeli ground forces,” the statement added. 

Heba Morayef, Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa director, said: “Over the last month we have witnessed a significant spike in Israel’s use of administrative detention - detention without charge or trial that can be renewed indefinitely - which was already at a 20-year high before the latest escalation in hostilities on 7 October.

“We urge Israel to allow the International Committee of the Red Cross to conduct urgent visits to prisons and detention facilities, and to monitor conditions for Palestinian detainees,” she added.