UN investigator tells Human Rights Council Israel is using “systematic torture” against Palestinians

CAIRO - 24 March 2026: A United Nations human rights investigator has accused Israel of carrying out widespread and systematic torture against Palestinians. 

Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in the Palestinian territories occupied, delivered the remarks as she presented her latest report to the Council, saying her findings show a pattern of mistreatment that has intensified since October 2023.

Albanese toldthe UN Human Rights Council that the Israeli abuses have become a structural feature of what she described as a genocidal system.

Addressing the Council, Albanese said her report documents Israel’s widespread and systematic use of torture and the creation of a “torturous environment” affecting Palestinians beyond detention sites.

She argued that torture has effectively become state policy, sustained by what she called a culture that is politically defended and publicly normalized.

Her report, published under the Human Rights Council session documentation (A/HRC/61/71) and titled “Torture and genocide,” examines alleged custodial and non-custodial practices and frames them within a broader legal argument under international law.

Key figures cited in the report

Albanese’s report says more than 18,500 Palestinians were arrested between October 2023 and January 2026, including children. It also cites nearly 100 deaths in custody and about 4,000 people recorded as forcibly disappeared, while describing some detainees as held without charge in harsh conditions and denied basic care.

In her remarks to the Council, Albanese said the alleged abuse should be investigated and she recommended accountability steps, including scrutiny of senior officials.

Palestinian envoy urges action

Palestinian ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Ibrahim Khraishi, told the Council that the practices described in the report amount to a collective and systematic form of torture and urged states to act on the report’s recommendations, arguing that lack of accountability weakens the credibility of the international system.

On the other hand, despite the amounts of documented events of violence committed by the Israeli occupation forces, Israel’s mission in Geneva issued a statement criticizing Albanese's work and describing her as biased, while disputing allegations linked to genocide and systematic torture.