The UN denounced Wednesday reports of "unacceptable" abuse and even torture of Palestinian detainees, in particular since Hamas's October 7 attack inside Israel that sparked the war in Gaza, demanding an investigation.
The United Nations has long raised concerns about conditions for Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons, but warned that the situation appeared to have worsened since the war began.
Asked about a recent case where Israel's military acknowledged its troops had tied a wounded Palestinian to a military vehicle during a raid in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin, UN rights chief Volker Turk said it was "sickening to see such totally unacceptable treatment".
"There must be a transparent and independent investigation to know what happened and to ensure that the perpetrators are brought to justice," Turk said at a news conference in Geneva.
Turk's spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani urged the need for accountability in the case, warning that without it, "brazen violations like this will continue with impunity".
"At some point you run out of words of condemnation to use for such incidents," she told AFP.
While acknowledging Israel's assertion that the incident did not comply with its own code of conduct, she claimed that "the denigration and dehumanisation of an entire community... almost enables and facilitates the conduct by Israeli troops".
Beyond that case, Shamdasani said the UN rights office had "been receiving very worrying, very distressing reports of how Palestinian detainees are being treated by Israeli forces since October 7".
Those reports included "people being held incommunicado... torture, mistreatment, handcuffing, deprivation of food, of water, of medication", she said, while also noting allegations of sexual abuse of detainees.
"It's unacceptable and it needs to stop," she said.
Shamdasani said the rights office had raised this issue directly with Israeli authorities and demanded "a transparent investigation into these allegations", but had yet to receive a formal response.
When Israeli authorities on Monday released Mohammed Abu Salmiya, director of Gaza City's Al-Shifa hospital, along with dozens of other detainees, he said he had suffered "severe torture" during his detention.
Shamdasani said that under international law, "there is an absolute prohibition on the use of torture, no matter the circumstances", including in war.
AFP has sought comment from Israel's armed forces on the claim.
The bloodiest-ever Gaza war broke out after Hamas's October 7 attack on southern Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,195 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.
The militants also seized 251 hostages, 116 of whom remain in Gaza including 42 the army says are dead.
Israel's retaliatory offensive since then has killed at least 37,953 people, also mostly civilians, according to data from the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.