{"id":314773,"date":"2026-04-06T12:00:25","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T11:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=314773"},"modified":"2026-04-06T08:28:21","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T07:28:21","slug":"un-expert-warns-torture-has-become-state-doctrine-in-israel-making-prisons-instruments-of-genocide-and-torture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2026\/04\/un-expert-warns-torture-has-become-state-doctrine-in-israel-making-prisons-instruments-of-genocide-and-torture\/","title":{"rendered":"UN Expert Warns Torture Has Become \u2018State Doctrine\u2019 in Israel, Making Prisons Instruments of Genocide and Torture"},"content":{"rendered":"

23 Mar 2026\u00a0<\/em>–\u00a0Israel\u2019s systematic torture of Palestinians, long shielded by decades of impunity and political cover, has become a defining instrument of ongoing genocide in the occupied Palestinian territory, a UN expert warned today.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince the onset of the genocide, the Israeli prison system has degenerated into a laboratory of calculated cruelty,\u201d said Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, in her\u00a0new report<\/a>\u00a0to the UN Human Rights Council.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat once operated in the shadows is now practiced openly: a regime of organised humiliation, pain and degradation, sanctioned at the highest political levels.\u201d<\/p>\n

Albanese said policies imposed by senior officials, including the Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir, have institutionalised torture, collective punishment and manifestly dehumanising conditions of detention.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose responsible for these heinous violations of human rights, from which no derogation is possible even in times of war, must face investigation and justice, including before the International Criminal Court,\u201d the Special Rapporteur said.<\/p>\n

Albanese\u2019s report warns that since October 2023, more than 18,500 Palestinians have been detained across the occupied Palestinian territory, including at least 1,500 children. Thousands remain in detention without charge or trial. Many have been forcibly disappeared. Nearly 100 detainees have died in custody. Detainees have been abused in unfathomable ways, including rape with bottles, metal rods and knives, starvation, breaking of bones and teeth, burning, being spat upon, and being attacked and urinated upon by dogs.<\/p>\n

In 2025, the UN Committee against Torture\u00a0denounced<\/a>\u00a0\u201ca de facto State policy of organized and widespread torture and ill-treatment \u2026 that has gravely intensified since 7 October 2023.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cA system that has long been used to dominate, degrade and break Palestinians has evolved and hardened into state doctrine,\u201d Albanese warned.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is defended by politicians, rationalised by legal institutions, sanitised by media narrative and tolerated by governments that continue to arm and shield Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n

The report by the Special Rapporteur finds that torture extends beyond prison walls. Through relentless bombardment, forced displacement, starvation, the destruction of homes, hospitals and infrastructure, pervasive surveillance, and terror inflicted by soldiers and settler terror militias, Israel has created what the report calls a \u201ctorturous environment\u201d across the entire occupied Palestinian territory.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, Palestinians are subjected to a continuum of suffering,\u201d Albanese said. \u201cThere is no refuge. No sanctuary. No safe place to exist.\u201d<\/p>\n

The report concludes that the systematic use of torture, combined with the wider campaign of destruction inflicted on Palestinians, forms an integral component of the ongoing genocide, inflicting severe bodily and mental harm on Palestinians as a group.<\/p>\n

\u201cTorture does to the individual what genocide does to a people,\u201d she said. \u201cIt destroys the conditions of life and human dignity. It reduces human beings to objects of abuse,\u201d the expert said.<\/p>\n

Albanese urged Israel to immediately cease all acts of torture and ill-treatment, grant access to international investigators and humanitarian organizations, and ensure accountability for those responsible pending its urgently needed dismantlement of the occupation.<\/p>\n

\u201cMember states must meet their legal obligations to prevent and punish genocide, torture and other serious violations of international law,\u201d she said, including by investigating and issuing arrest warrants for those responsible, such as Itamar Ben-Gvir, Bezalel Smotrich and Israel Katz.<\/p>\n

\u201cInternational law is unequivocal: torture is absolutely prohibited, without exception,\u201d Albanese said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIts increasing use as part of Israel\u2019s genocide against the Palestinian people makes this violation all the more grave and indefensible,\u201d she said. \u201cIf the international community continues to tolerate such acts when inflicted on Palestinians, then the law itself will be stripped of meaning.\u201d<\/p>\n

_____________________________________<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> Francesca Albanese is an Italian legal scholar and expert on human rights who serves as the UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories since 1 May 2022, being the first woman to hold the position. Albanese holds a law degree with honors from the University of Pisa and a Master of Laws in human rights from SOAS University of London. She recommended in her first report that UN member states develop a plan to end Israeli occupation and apartheid. After the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip, Albanese warned that Palestinians in Gaza were at risk of ethnic cleansing. On 26 Mar 2024, she reported to the UN Human Rights Council that Israel’s actions in Gaza amounted to genocide. <\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original – defenddemocracy.press<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

23 Mar 2026\u00a0–\u00a0Israel\u2019s systematic torture of Palestinians, long shielded by decades of impunity and political cover, has become a defining instrument of ongoing genocide in the occupied Palestinian territory, a UN expert warned today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":305837,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[82],"tags":[1854,3395,87,865,629,88,427,2418,2759,2159,572,124,1025],"class_list":["post-314773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-united-nations","tag-crimes-against-humanity","tag-francesca-albanese","tag-gaza","tag-genocide","tag-international-law","tag-israel","tag-palestine","tag-palestinian-rights","tag-prisons","tag-rogue-states","tag-torture","tag-united-nations","tag-west-bank"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314773","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=314773"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314773\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":314774,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314773\/revisions\/314774"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/305837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=314773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=314773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=314773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}