NEW YORK, March 21, 2026 (WAFA) – A United Nations report documenting harsh practices against Palestinians in detention centers since October 2023 states that they amount to widespread collective punishment, based on hundreds of testimonies describing serious physical and psychological violations.
UN Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories Francesca Albanese said in a report released to the media that Israel is carrying out systematic torture against Palestinians on a scale that “indicates collective revenge and destructive intent.”
She added that Palestinian detainees have been subjected to “extremely severe physical and psychological abuse” since October 7, 2023.
In a statement accompanying the new report, Albanese said she “unequivocally condemns torture and other forms of ill-treatment committed by all actors, including Palestinian armed factions,” but noted that the report focuses on Israeli conduct.
The report, titled “Torture and genocide,” examines Israel’s systematic use of torture against Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territory since October 7, 2023.
According to the report, torture in detention centers has been used on an unprecedented scale as a form of collective punishment.
It added that brutal beatings, sexual violence and rape, lethal mistreatment, starvation, and the systematic deprivation of the most basic necessities of human life have left deep and lasting scars on the bodies and minds of tens of thousands of Palestinians and their loved ones.
The report further states that torture has become an integral part of controlling and punishing men, women and children, whether through abuse during detention or through an ongoing campaign of forced displacement, mass killings, deprivation, and the destruction of the means of life with the aim of inflicting long-term collective pain and suffering.
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