GENEVA: A UN expert claimed Israel was systematically torturing Palestinians on a scale &quot;that suggests collective vengeance and destructive intent&quot;, in a report released to the media on Friday. Francesca Albanese, the UN&#39;s special rapporteur on the rights situation in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, said that since Hamas&#39;s October 7, 2023, attack, which triggered the Gaza war, Palestinians in custody &quot;have been subjected to exceptionally ruthless physical and psychological abuse&quot;. AFP has sought a comment from Israel&#39;s mission in Geneva, which has previously accused Albanese of being motivated by an &quot;obsessive, hate-driven agenda to delegitimize the state of Israel&quot;. Albanese has faced harsh criticism, allegations of anti-Semitism, and demands for her removal from Israel and some of its allies, over her relentless criticism and long-standing accusations of &quot;genocide&quot;. Last month, France and Germany called for her to resign following her remarks to a forum in Doha. Albanese said they had done so based on &quot;false accusations&quot; and a &quot;manipulation&quot; of what she had actually said. Though appointed by the UN Human Rights Council, special rapporteurs are independent experts and do not speak on behalf of the United Nations itself. &#39;Unprecedented scale&#39;&nbsp;A statement accompanying her new report said that while Albanese &quot;unequivocally condemns torture and other forms of ill- treatment committed by all actors, including Palestinian armed groups&quot;, this report &quot;focuses on Israeli conduct&quot;. Entitled &quot;Torture and genocide&quot;, the report &quot;examines Israel&#39;s systematic use of torture against Palestinians from the occupied Palestinian territory since October 7, 2023&quot;. It claimed that &quot;torture in detention has been used on an unprecedented scale as punitive collective vengeance&quot;. &quot;Brutal beatings, sexual violence, rape, lethal mistreatment, starvation, and the systematic deprivation of the most basic human conditions have inflicted profound and lasting scars on the bodies and minds of tens of thousands of Palestinians and their loved ones,&quot; the report said. &quot;Torture has become integral to the domination of and punishment inflicted on men, women and children, both through custodial abuse and through a relentless campaign of forced displacement, mass killings, deprivation and destruction of all means of life to inflict long-term collective pain and suffering,&quot; it said. Israel is party to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. Albanese said she had gathered written submissions, including over 300 testimonies. &#39;Widespread humiliation&#39;Albanese said that since October 2023, arrests of Palestinians in the occupied territories had &quot;escalated dramatically&quot;, with more than 18,500 people arrested, including at least 1,500 children. The report said around 9,000 Palestinians were still in detention, while &quot;more than 4,000 have been subjected to enforced disappearance&quot;. Albanese said Israel&rsquo;s detention system &quot;has descended into a regime of systemic and widespread humiliation, coercion, and terror&quot;. She said Israel should &quot;immediately cease all acts of torture and ill-treatment of the Palestinian people as part of its ongoing genocide&quot; and urged all countries &quot;to do everything in their power to stop the destruction of what remains of Palestine&quot; as every delay &quot;worsens irreversible harm and further entrenches a system of cruelty&quot;. Albanese urged the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to request arrest warrants for Israel&#39;s Defence Minister Israel Katz, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich. She is due to present her report to the UN Human Rights Council on Monday.

A representative of Qatar is seen on screens as he delivers a speech on human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran during a session of the UN Human Rights Council, in Geneva on March 16, 2026. (Photo by Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP)

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Francesca Albanese, the UN's special rapporteur on the rights situation in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, said that since Hamas's October 7, 2023, attack, which triggered the Gaza war, Palestinians in custody "have been subjected to exceptionally ruthless physical and psychological abuse".

UN expert claims Israel using 'systematic' torture

Romesa Umar

ISLAMABAD: The United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry has concluded that Israel is responsible for genocide in Gaza, urging the international community to stop the violence and prosecute those accountable.&nbsp;The report follows a two-year investigation into events since October 7, 2023, focusing on Israeli military operations that resulted in unprecedented civilian casualties, the deliberate starvation of the population, the collapse of health and education systems, and violations of the International Court of Justice&#39;s binding orders.&nbsp;Genocide in Gaza Under Article II: Four Acts IdentifiedThe UN Commission outlined four of the five acts defined as genocide under the Genocide Convention and the Rome Statute:&nbsp;I. Killing members of groupWidespread and sustained&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/100-palestinians-killed-everyday-unwra-death-toll-crosses-61100" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">killings of Palestinian civilians</a>&nbsp;were documented, including strikes on homes, hospitals, and designated &quot;safe zones.&quot; Israel&rsquo;s use of heavy explosive weapons in densely populated areas was found to be knowingly indiscriminate and lethal to civilians, including children. <figure class="fr-media"><img src="https://paktv-assets-7d41fab8.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/uploads/3cb4a32a-e334-4ff2-8074-da7f35439261-2025-09-11T201435Z_1001427010_RC2AEGA5XC6G_RTRMADP_3_ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS-GAZA-JOURNALISTS.JPG" alt=" site of an Israeli strike on Nasser Hospital " style="max-width: 100%;" class="fr-fil fr-dib"><figcaption class="caption-cover-image text-sm text-gray-600 italic" style="line-height: 2;">Mariam Abu Dagga, who freelanced for the Associated Press, and journalist Moaz Abu Taha are seen at the site of an Israeli strike on Nasser Hospital shortly before they were killed in a second strike that hit the same location where Reuters cameraman Hussam al-Masri was killed in the first strike, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, in this still image taken from video by Reuters photographer Hatem Khaled, who was wounded shortly afterward while filming the site, August 25, 2025. (Reuters)</figcaption></figure> II. Causing serious bodily or mental harmThe Commission reported over 146,000 injuries, including thousands of amputations and incidents of torture, mistreatment, and sexual and gender-based violence. The trauma from ongoing&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/us-to-pledge-2-billion-for-un-humanitarian-aid-in-2026-lower-than-previously" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">displacement and deprivation</a>&nbsp;has had particularly severe psychological impacts on children.<figure class="fr-media"><img src="https://paktv-assets-7d41fab8.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/uploads/35af6625-1dfa-4ead-8c7c-21766e855a23-2025-09-07T074002Z_874788905_RC2SMGAL2M3C_RTRMADP_3_ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS-GAZA.JPG" alt="Gaza air strike on a school by Israel" style="max-width: 100%;" class="fr-fil fr-dib"><figcaption class="caption-cover-image text-sm text-gray-600 italic" style="line-height: 2;">Women hold a child with injuries as Palestinians inspect the site of an overnight Israeli air strike on a school that was sheltering displaced people, in Gaza City, September 7, 2025. (REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas)</figcaption></figure>III. Inflicting conditions of life intended to destroyThe siege on Gaza included widespread destruction of infrastructure, denial of food, water, fuel, and electricity, and the targeting of medical services. These conditions, affecting especially women and children, were found to be deliberately imposed to cause the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/ready-to-free-gaza-hostages-under-trump-ceasefire-proposal-hamas" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">physical destruction</a>&nbsp;of Palestinians.<figure class="fr-media"><img src="https://paktv-assets-7d41fab8.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/uploads/f3e3acfe-9b7d-491b-9ebf-c5e64a36bdd6-2025-08-28T120051Z_1751005476_RC29GGA7ZADB_RTRMADP_3_ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS-GAZA-WFP.JPG" alt="Palestinians wait for food at a charity kitchen in Gaza City" style="max-width: 100%;" class="fr-fil fr-dib"><figcaption class="caption-cover-image text-sm text-gray-600 italic" style="line-height: 2;">Palestinians wait for food at a charity kitchen in Gaza City, Aug. 28, 2025, after the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification declared the area officially in famine, with conditions expected to worsen. (REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa)</figcaption></figure>IV. Measures to prevent birthsThe report documents reproductive violence through denial of maternal healthcare, attacks on pregnant women, and conditions causing miscarriages. These are viewed as part of a systematic effort to destroy Palestinian reproductive capacity. <figure class="fr-media"><img src="https://paktv-assets-7d41fab8.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/uploads/685f00d8-4669-405d-a86d-25c1dd84eb7c-2025-09-10T022726Z_939082202_RC2QOGAABW5D_RTRMADP_3_ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS-SUMUD-FLOTILLA.JPG" alt="2025-09-10T022726Z_939082202_RC2QOGAABW5D_RTRMADP_3_ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS-SUMUD-FLOTILLA.JPG" style="max-width: 100%;" class="fr-fil fr-dib"><figcaption class="caption-cover-image text-sm text-gray-600 italic" style="line-height: 2;">A fire breaks out aboard Alma, a vessel in the Global Sumud Flotilla carrying aid, in Tunisian waters off the coast of Tunisia, Sept. 9, 2025, in this CCTV screengrab. (Global Sumud Flotilla/Handout via Reuters)</figcaption></figure> V. Forcible transfer of children &ndash; not establishedThe Commission did not find sufficient evidence for the fifth act of genocide, forcible transfer of children, during the reviewed period.&nbsp;Genocidal intentChair Navi Pillay stated: &ldquo;The Commission finds that Israel is responsible for the commission of genocide in Gaza.&rdquo;&nbsp;The UN report emphasized that both the actions on the ground and official statements by Israeli authorities demonstrate intent to destroy Palestinians in Gaza as a group, meeting the legal threshold for genocide.

United Nations investigators find Israel committed genocide in Gaza, citing mass killings, starvation, and reproductive violence since October 2023.

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UN expert claims Israel using 'systematic' torture

Israel guilty of rape, torture, starvation: UN Investigators