UN report accuses Israel of 'de facto' state policy of torture

A UN report has accused Israel of having a "de facto" state policy of torture for Palestinian prisoners.

The UN Committee Against Torture said on Friday that use of torture by the Israeli state was "organised and widespread" and had greatly increased since the beginning of the war on Gaza on 7 October 2023.

The report noted that Israel had no legislation criminalising torture, and said its legislation allowed public officials to be exempted from criminal culpability under the principle of "necessity".

"The committee was deeply concerned about reports indicating a de facto state policy of organised and widespread torture and ill-treatment during the reporting period, which had gravely intensified since 7 October 2023," the report said.

"It also expressed its concern that a range of policies adopted by Israel in the course of its continued unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, if implemented in the manner alleged, would amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading living conditions for the Palestinian population."

The report also comes as Israel has faced widespread criticism over a video that apparently showed soldiers shooting dead two unarmed men in the occupied West Bank.

The United Nations said on Friday that the killing in the occupied West Bank appeared to be a "summary execution".

"We are appalled at the brazen killing by Israeli border police yesterday of two Palestinian men in Jenin," UN rights office spokesman Jeremy Laurence told reporters in Geneva, calling the incident "yet another apparent summary execution", in reference to the killings that took place on Thursday. 

He said UN rights chief Volker Turk is calling for "independent, prompt and effective investigations into the killings of Palestinians", and for those responsible for killings and other violations in the occupied West Bank to "be held fully to account".

Summary execution is a war crime under the Geneva Convention and international law. 

A video has circulated widely on social media showing the two Palestinian men emerging from a building with their arms raised and their shirts lifted, clearly indicating they were unarmed and posed no threat to the Israeli soldiers.