UN expert accuses world of giving Israel ‘licence to torture’ Palestinians

WEB DESK: A United Nations expert has claimed that the international community has effectively granted Israel a “licence to torture” Palestinians, describing life in the occupied Palestinian territory as “a continuum of physical and mental suffering”.

Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, made the remarks on Monday while presenting her latest report to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, according to Al Jazeera.

She alleged that “torture has effectively become state policy” in Israel and accused governments and ministers of allowing it to continue unchecked.

‘Organised humiliation, pain and degradation’

In her report, titled “Torture and genocide”, Albanese said practices that once occurred in the shadows are now carried out openly, amounting to “a regime of organised humiliation, pain and degradation, sanctioned at the highest political levels”.

“Torture is not confined to cells and interrogation rooms,” the report stated. It described the occupied Palestinian territory as a space of collective punishment, where mass displacement, siege, denial of aid and food, unrestrained military and settler violence, and pervasive surveillance have created “a torturous environment”.

The cumulative impact, it added, turns “genocidal violence into a tool of collective torture with long-term mental and physical consequences for the occupied population”.

She told the council: “Israel has effectively been given a licence to torture Palestinians, because most of your governments, your ministers, have allowed it.”

The report examines allegations of systematic torture against Palestinians since 7 October 2023, both in custody and across the wider territory, drawing on survivor testimonies and other evidence. It calls for accountability, including potential arrest warrants for senior Israeli officials.

Israel has previously rejected such findings as politically motivated and biased. No immediate response to Monday’s presentation was available.

The comments come amid ongoing scrutiny of the humanitarian situation in Gaza and the West Bank, with rights groups and UN bodies continuing to raise concerns over detention conditions, access to aid, and civilian casualties.

Albanese’s mandate and reports have drawn both strong support from some member states and criticism from others, who question the impartiality of the special rapporteur role