Systematic Torture in Military Camps

The UN Commission’s Third Report documents widespread and systematic torture in military-run facilities like Sde Teiman. Detainees, including children, were blindfolded, limb-cuffed for prolonged periods, forced into stress positions, deprived of sleep, and beaten with batons or sticks. Some were even suspended by chains, subjected to electric shocks, and endured extreme temperature changes. Facilities lacked proper sanitation, food, and healthcare, with detainees sometimes urinating in their clothes, which one victim described as being “stripped of their humanity”. These scenes are starkly adjacent to some of those to come out of Guantanamo Bay during the so-called “War on Terror” enacted by the United States during the Bush Administration.

These practices by occupying forces breach the absolute prohibition of torture under Article 7 of the ICCPR, Article 2 of the Convention Against Torture, and amount to war crimes under the Rome Statute (Art. 8).

Targeting Medical Personnel

Doctors, nurses, and paramedics from Gaza, who were detained during hospital raids or forced evacuations, have reported daily beatings, forced nakedness, sexual humiliation, prolonged cuffing and blindfolding, and denial of medical care, even for injuries acquired during these interrogations. Victims describe being dragged, forced to howl like animals, being beaten during medical treatment, and denied essentials. Such treatment clearly violates International Humanitarian Law protections for medical personnel and constitutes cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment prohibited by Convention Against Torture and GC IV (Art. 17).

Sexual Violence & Degrading Acts

Reports from UN investigators, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and leaked testimonies indicate rape, sexual assault, genital gouging, use of hot metal rods in the anus, electric shock, and urination on detainees. Male and female detainees, including children, were stripped, paraded naked, threatened with rape, and sexually humiliated.

These are grave breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention (Articles 27–28), war crimes under the Rome Statute (Art. 8), and amount to crimes against humanity when systematic.

Arbitrary Arrests, Enforced Disappearance & Inhumane Conditions

Tens of thousands of Palestinians from Gaza have been detained without charge, access to family or lawyers, under laws where guards can detain them indefinitely. Reports describe enforced disappearances, denial of legal access, withholding of information regarding health or location, and detainees held in over-crowded, unsanitary conditions—deprived of food, water, exercise, and privacy.

Such practices violate due process rights under ICCPR Articles 9–14, the absolute prohibition of torture, and under occupation law (GC IV), and constitute enforced disappearances—a crime against humanity (Rome Statute Art. 7(1)(i)).

Legal Violations & International Response

• Convention Against Torture: Prohibits all forms of torture and inhuman or degrading treatment.

• Fourth Geneva Convention/Geneva International Humanitarian Law: Mandates humane treatment for civilians and prisoners (Arts 3, 27–34).

• Rome Statute: Systematic torture, sexual violence, enforced disappearance, and wilful killing are all war crimes or crimes against humanity (Arts 7–8).

UN bodies, OHCHR, Amnesty, Human Rights Watch, B'Tselem, and Palestinian NGOs all affirm these abuses have been institutionalised and widespread, especially in the Sde Teiman facility, and demand full, impartial investigations and prosecutions, most notably by the ICC.

Pro Palestine supporter holding protest sign at the National March for Palestine demonstration, London, for End The Genocide, Stop Arming Israel and Justice for Palestine (July 2024)

Image credit: Shutterstock/John Gomez