The draft document, prepared by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), contains detailed testimonies from detainees describing a range of ill-treatment. This includes stripping and beatings, confinement in cages, attacks by dogs, prolonged stress positions, and "blunt force trauma" such as blows from guns and boots, resulting in injuries like broken ribs and separated shoulders. Both men and women reported threats and incidents of sexual violence and harassment, including inappropriate touching and beatings to men's genitals.
In response, the Israeli military has denied mistreating detainees, including during interrogation, and has rejected specific allegations like denial of access to water, medical care, and bedding.
UNRWA's findings align with reports from human rights groups and other UN investigations on abuse in Israeli detention centers.
The report, based on interviews with over 100 detainees freed from three Israeli military sites since December, includes accounts from individuals aged six to 82, including 29 children. It was compiled during UNRWA's humanitarian aid coordination at the Kerem Shalom crossing, where the Israeli military released detainees. Palestinians released from detention also provided information independently and voluntarily.
UNRWA described the allegations as "shocking but unsurprising," noting that many Palestinians were apprehended in northern Gaza while seeking refuge or attempting to flee south. Some were Gazans with work permits for Israel, stranded in occupied territories when the war began.
UNRWA estimates that over 4,000 Palestinians have been detained in Gaza since the Israeli war started on October 7.
In the ongoing genocidal war, which has lasted five months, Gaza's health ministry reports over 30,000 Palestinian deaths.