UN Committee Against Torture: Israel Appears to Pursue a Deliberate Policy of Torture and Collective Punishment of Palestinian Detainees
On 28 November 2025, the United Nations Committee Against Torture issued its concluding observations on its 6th review of Israel’s implementation of the international Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (UN CAT), which took place on 11 and 12 November 2025. This session is the first review of Israel by the Committee since 2016. The Committee issued over 50 conclusions and recommendations on various subjects of concern, amounting to a scathing indictment the torture and ill-treatment of Palestinian prisoners and detainees held in Israeli custody.
See concluding observations here.
See more detailed analysis (by Adalah) of the concluding observations here
The Committee found that Israel’s treatment of Palestinian detainees appears to amount to a deliberate State policy of collective punishment, citing reports of severely deteriorated detention conditions, extreme overcrowding, denial of sufficient food, water, hygiene and medical care, and prolonged confinement of up to 23 hours a day. The Committee expressed deep concern over extensive allegations of organized and widespread torture and ill-treatment, including severe beatings, electrocution, waterboarding, sexual and gender-based violence, stress positions, medical negligence, and even surgeries without anaesthetic, which it said constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity, and acts forming part of genocide. It further highlighted an abnormally high number of deaths in custody since 7 October 2023 affecting only Palestinians, with autopsies indicating torture, malnutrition and denial of medical care, and condemned a persistent climate of impunity marked by virtually no prosecutions. The Committee also pointed to Israel’s unprecedented resort to administrative detention, mass arbitrary arrests, and the incommunicado detention of thousands of Palestinians from Gaza under the Unlawful Combatants Law, amounting to enforced disappearance. It raised alarm at Israel’s ongoing suspension of ICRC access to detainees and systematic denial of legal counsel, family contact, and timely judicial oversight.
Joint Report by the Undersigned Organizations to the Committee
In a comprehensive report submitted to UNCAT prior to the session, Adalah, along with the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel; HaMoked – Center for the Defence of the Individual; Physicians for Human Rights – Israel; Parents Against Child Detention, urged the Committee to recognize the mounting evidence of Israel’s systematic violations of the UN CAT. The report documents a sharp escalation in abuses since 7 October 2023, demonstrating that torture has become a deliberate and widespread tool of state policy.
See the full report here.
In response to the Committee’s concluding observations, the submitting organizations stated:
“The Committee’s findings reaffirm what we and many others have documented throughout the past two years: Israel now operates a detention regime that systematically brutalizes Palestinians, strips them of basic legal protections, cuts them off from the outside world, and shields perpetrators from accountability. The Committee’s observation that Israel maintains a policy marked by organized and widespread torture, collective punishment, incommunicado detention and enforced disappearance demands immediate international action. As Israeli courts continue to enable these practices, we urge the international community to act to protect Palestinian detainees, press for unfettered access to all detention sites, take concrete steps to halt the ongoing harm inflicted on Palestinians in Israeli detention, and demand that all responsible individuals are held fully accountable.”
