“The beatings included blunt force trauma to the head, shoulders, kidneys, neck, back and legs with metal bars and the butts of guns and boots, in some cases resulting in broken ribs, separated shoulders and lasting injuries,” the report alleges. The UNRWA report says: “Methods of ill-treatment reported included physical beatings, forced stress positions for extended periods of time, threats of harm to detainees and their families, attacks by dogs, insults to personal dignity and humiliation such as being made to act like animals or getting urinated on, use of loud music and noises, deprivation of water, food, sleep and toilets, denial of the right to practice their religion (to pray) and prolonged use of tightly locked handcuffs causing open wounds and friction injuries. Legislation passed by the Knesset since the Gaza offensive began and extended for three months in January, allows the security services to hold detainees for 180 days without providing access to a lawyer. It claims the worst abuse occurs in these detention and interrogation centres before the detainees are transferred to the Israeli prison system. “Detainees reported being taken on trucks to large makeshift ‘military barracks’ housing 100-120 people each, where they were held, often for weeks at a time, in between periods of interrogation at a nearby location,” the UNRWA document said, in allegations first reported by the New York Times. Some had chronic conditions such as Alzheimer’s or were cancer patients. The UNRWA report said that among the 1,002 detainees released since December at the Kerem Shalom crossing, there were 29 children as young as six (26 boys and three girls), 80 women and 21 UNRWA staff. Their Israeli jailers, it alleges, “through beatings and other mistreatment and threats, sought to elicit operational information and forced confessions”. The UNRWA report says that its employees have been detained, many while carrying out aid work, subjected to abuse, and put under pressure to smear the agency. The allegations, which are being studied by two separate UN inquiries, have so far not been substantiated. It has named 12 UNRWA staff it claims took part in the 7 October attack, and claims that 450 of the agency’s 13,000 workers in Gaza are members of Hamas or other militant groups. Israel denies the abuse allegations, which it described as Hamas-inspired propaganda. But it estimates that more than 4,000 men, women and children have been rounded up in Gaza since the start of the current conflict, triggered by Hamas raids into southern Israel on 7 October which killed about 1,200 Israelis, mostly civilians. The report, which has been circulated within the UN and seen by the Guardian, says that just over 1,000 detainees have been released since December.
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