Attachments
UN Human Rights in Occupied Palestinian Territory
Ramallah
11 November 2024
The UN Human Rights Office condemns Israeli security forces’ mass arrests, ill-treatment, and gratuitous humiliation of Palestinians during raids in refugee camps and towns across the West Bank, which is occupied by Israel. Information gathered by the Office show a pattern of unnecessary, disproportionate and otherwise unlawful force used in Palestinian communities of Madama, Dura, and Al Fawwar refugee camps, among others, over the past month, despite in many cases there being no apparent threat to public order or the security of the occupying forces.
During the raids, Israeli security forces closed the entrances to communities and subjected them to curfews, preventing the entry and exit of Palestinians up to an entire day, stopping life in the community, while entering and vandalising dozens of homes. Furthermore, Israeli security forces have undertaken mass arrest, mainly men, and subjected several of them to ill-treatment, including by parading them in the streets while handcuffed and blindfolded.
In the most recent raid, between 5 and 6 November, Israeli security forces deployed in Madama and Nablus for 19 hours prohibited all activities in the village. They then raided dozens of homes and seized a residential building over which they placed an Israeli flag and to which they brought more than 20 Palestinians, including one woman. Many of those detained were all held handcuffed, blindfolded and kept without food and water for periods of 5 to 19 hours. Nine of them reported to UN Human Rights Office that they were subjected to beating. They were all released by the morning of 6 November.
Similarly, on 31 October, Israeli security forces detained about 35 Palestinian men for several hours during a raid in Dura, Hebron. They took over the house of a Palestinian, raised Israeli flags on it, and used the house to interrogate arrested Palestinians. According to testimonies, Israeli security forces continued to detain about 20 Palestinian men there for six hours and wrote numbers on their foreheads. Following that, the detainees were forced to walk handcuffed and blindfolded through the town. Fifteen other Palestinian men from the town were blindfolded, handcuffed and detained in a nearby Israeli military camp. They were all released at the end of the raid.
In a different incident on 18 and 19 October, Israeli security forces raided at least 50 homes in Al Fawer refugee camp, Hebron, and detained some 30 Palestinians, accompanied by widespread abuse, including alleged property theft, violence against householders and detainees. One of those detained reported to UN Human Rights Office that Israeli security forces hit him with a heavy object in the head and jaw, while he was handcuffed and blindfolded. Israeli media have reported one case of grave sexual violence against a detainee during this raid. All detainees were subsequently released.
Over the last one month, there have been several reports of many Palestinians, mostly men, being taken into custody by the Israeli military in North Gaza, and reportedly subjected to ill-treatment. There has been very little information shared about these detained Palestinians. Thousands of Palestinians were already in Israeli detention, many of them in unknown locations with no access to their family or legal assistance.
In this context, UN Human Rights again raises serious concerns on the treatment of detainees already underscored in the report “Detention in the context of the escalation of hostilities in Gaza (October 2023-June 2024)”
Under Article 43 of the Hague Regulations, an occupying power must restore and maintain public order and civil life, including public welfare, in an occupied territory. This means that Israel, as the Occupying Power must take steps to ensure that Palestinians living in the Occupied Palestinian Territory are able to live as normal a life as possible and must administer the territory to the benefit of the Palestinian population, while taking into account the security needs of the occupying power. The wanton destruction of civilian infrastructure, and the arbitrary detention and ill-treatment of Palestinians violates international humanitarian law and international human rights law. The International Court of Justice has concluded that the State of Israel’s continued presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory is unlawful and called on Israel to end its unlawful presence as rapidly as possible.
ENDS
For more information and media requests, please contact:
UN Human Rights office at ohchr-opt@un.org