The United Nations has long raised concerns about conditions for Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons but warned that the situation appeared to have worsened since the war began.
Asked about a recent case where Israel's military acknowledged its troops had tied a wounded Palestinian to a military vehicle during a raid in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin, UN rights chief Volker Turk said it was "sickening to see such totally unacceptable treatment".
"There must be a transparent and independent investigation to know what happened and to ensure that the perpetrators are brought to justice," Turk said at a news conference in Geneva.
Turk's spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani urged the need for accountability in the case, warning that without it, "brazen violations like this will continue with impunity".
"At some point you run out of words of condemnation to use for such incidents," she told AFP.
She added that "the denigration and dehumanisation of an entire community... almost enables and facilitates the conduct by Israeli troops".
Beyond that case, Shamdasani said the UN rights office had "been receiving very worrying, very distressing reports of how Palestinian detainees are being treated by Israeli forces since October 7".
Those reports included "people being held incommunicado... torture, mistreatment, handcuffing, deprivation of food, of water, of medication", she said, while also noting allegations of sexual abuse of detainees.
Shamdasani said that under international law, "there is an absolute prohibition on the use of torture, no matter the circumstances", including in war.
"It's unacceptable and it needs to stop," she said.
Shamdasani said the rights office had raised this issue directly with Israeli authorities and demanded "a transparent investigation into these allegations", but had yet to receive a formal response.
Israel has not immediately responded to AFP's request for a comment.
Director of Al-Shifa hospital suffered "severe torture"
When Israeli authorities on Monday released Mohammed Abu Salmiya, director of Gaza City's Al-Shifa hospital, along with 54 detainees, he said he had suffered "severe torture" during his detention.
MD Abu Selmia and other staff members were detained in November when Israeli forces raided the Al-Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza before ransacking and destroying the largest medical facility in the strip.
In video comments aired by Palestinian media following Abu Selmia’s release, he accused Israeli authorities of mistreating Palestinian detainees.
“They are subjected to daily physical and psychological humiliation,” Abu Selmia said.
"Several inmates died in interrogation centres and were deprived of food and medicine."
"For two months no prisoner ate more than a loaf of bread a day," added Abu Selmia.
Israel's Shadowy Prison Hospital
Reports came in early June of mistreatment in Israel's Sde Teiman Hospital, the only hospital dedicated to treating Palestinians detained by the military in the Gaza Strip.
Three people who have worked there spoke with The Associated Press, confirming similar accounts from human rights groups.
Patients lying shackled and blindfolded on more than a dozen beds inside a white tent in the desert. Surgeries are performed without adequate painkillers—Doctors who remain anonymous. These are some of the conditions at the hospital near the city of Beersheba in southern Israel.
“We are condemned by the left because we are not fulfilling ethical issues,” said Dr. Yoel Donchin, an anesthesiologist who has worked at the hospital.
"Completely Traumatized"
Gaza Palestinians detained by Israeli forces are coming back "completely traumatized" upon release and reporting abuses while in captivity, the head of the UN's Palestinian refugee agency had said in early March.
Detainees reported being subjected to a "broad range of ill-treatment" including threats of electrocution, being photographed naked, sleep deprivation and having dogs used to intimidate them, UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini told a media briefing.
The comments follow reporting by the New York Times on an internal investigation compiled by UNRWA staff documenting the state of returning detainees at the Israeli Karm Abu Salem border.
"We have seen these people coming back from detention, some of them for a couple of weeks, some of them for a couple of months, and most of them coming back (are) completely traumatized by the ordeal they have gone through," Lazzarini said.
"Our staff have reported atrocious events while they were detained and during interrogations by the Israeli authorities. These reports included torture, severe ill-treatment, abuse and sexual exploitation," UNRWA said in a statement to AFP.
Israel's barbaric war on Gaza has killed at least 37,953 people, mostly women and children.
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