Human rights organisations have urgently called on UN member states to take immediate action to ‘protect people deprived of their liberty’ across the occupied Palestinian territory.
In a collective statement, 31 human rights organisations, including Save the Children, Human Rights Watch, and Oxfam, implored UN member states to implement crucial protective measures. These would ensure that both children and adults detained by Israeli forces are treated with the dignity mandated by international humanitarian and human rights law.
‘This includes demanding that the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is granted immediate and unfettered access to all detainees and hostages, to the full extent required by international humanitarian law,’ the statement emphasised.
The organisations further insisted that Palestinian children arbitrarily arrested and detained by the Israeli military must be released ‘immediately and unconditionally.’
The statement underscored the systematic abuse and mistreatment of Palestinian children held by the Israeli military, highlighting reports of degrading practices, such as strip searches and forced imitation of animals. Moreover, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has extensively documented cases of torture and ill-treatment of Palestinian detainees, including children.
‘No child should ever come into contact with a military court, or any court that lacks comprehensive fair trial rights and basic safeguards. No child should ever be abducted,’ the organisations stated.
Save the Children reported that Palestinian children held in Israeli-operated prisons face escalating hunger, physical mistreatment, and outbreaks of infectious diseases.
Some detainees have recounted experiences of sexual assault and severe beatings. The statement also noted that Israeli prisons have imposed severe restrictions on access for human rights monitors, lawyers, and family members of detainees from the West Bank, while access for those from Gaza is virtually nonexistent.
On Monday, the UN Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Pramila Patten, expressed deep concern over reports of rape and other forms of sexual violence against Palestinian abductees in Israeli custody. She condemned the normalisation of these acts as ‘unacceptable.’
‘Sexual violence and sexualised torture in any form and in any context, particularly in detention settings, is unacceptable. Such abhorrent acts not only constitute a grave violation of human rights and human dignity but they also undermine efforts towards peace and stability in the region,’ the statement read.
Reports indicate that torture in Israel’s prisons and detention centres has been widespread and systematic, involving rape, sexual assault, beatings, sleep deprivation, and starvation. Since October 7, 2023, Israeli forces have detained thousands of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, with many individuals, including an unknown number of children, reported missing.
According to the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem, nearly 10,000 Palestinians are currently held in detention or imprisoned on what Israel terms ‘security’ grounds, with 1,761 of them from the Gaza Strip.
Meanwhile, on the first day of September, the United Nations, in collaboration with Palestinian health authorities, initiated a campaign to vaccinate children in the Gaza Strip against the poliovirus, which can lead to paralysis or even death in young children.
Polio is a severe infection that can spread rapidly, particularly in unsanitary conditions, as it is transmitted through contact with faeces.
Since October 7 2023, the Israeli military has dismantled water supply and wastewater disposal systems throughout the Palestinian territory, resulting in waste accumulation in densely populated areas where hundreds of thousands of civilians have been forcibly displaced.
The government media office in Gaza reported that the Israeli army has also halted the removal of waste from civilian areas by exerting control over waste disposal sites and targeting municipal workers, equipment, and systems responsible for waste management.
The World Health Organization has indicated that the disruption of routine immunisation campaigns in the occupied Palestinian territory, including Gaza, has contributed to the re-emergence of the virus.
To prevent further outbreaks, at least 95% of children need to be vaccinated. This means approximately 640,000 children aged from one day to 10 years require a type two poliovirus vaccine.
However, the vaccination campaign alone will not suffice to prevent the spread of the virus, as it fails to address the fundamental issues of hygiene, sanitation, and access to clean water – essential components in eradicating polio, which seems elusive in wartime.
In addition to causing death and injury, the war has disrupted routine healthcare services. Many hospitals in Gaza have been destroyed or damaged, and those still functioning are facing shortages of essential staff and supplies. The situation is further exacerbated by the approximately 1.9 million people internally displaced within Gaza, hindering their access to healthcare.
Campaign organisers face numerous challenges as the safety of healthcare workers is jeopardised by ongoing violence and instability. The conflict has already resulted in the deaths of over 500 healthcare professionals.
‘One of the biggest problems we’re having, and one of the biggest challenges, is actually safely distributing the vaccination. It’s far too dangerous for them to travel, to move. There is ongoing fighting. There were a lot of strikes this morning and through the night. So the fighting has not stopped by any means.
‘There are some pauses throughout the day, but it’s not guaranteed. We don’t have guaranteed safety to people, and we really need that to reach all the children to get that 95% success rate,’ said Louise Wateridge, UNRWA Spokesperson.
Additionally, managing vaccine logistics is challenging, even in non-conflict regions. Most vaccines require specific conditions for transportation and storage.
For instance, the polio vaccine becomes rapidly spoiled at temperatures above eight degrees Celsius and must be stored at temperatures between minus 15 degrees Celsius and minus 25 degrees Celsius before reaching healthcare facilities. To ensure product viability and patient safety, the cold chain must remain intact.
‘We are right now in the central cold storage where we have received more than 1.2 million doses of the Polio 2 vaccine, Polio type 2 vaccine and approximately 400,000 further doses are en route. These doses have been maintained in the cold chain, and these will be transported today to the various distribution points in the middle area,’ said Dr Deepak Kumar, Technical Officer, World Health Organisation.
While necessary refrigeration equipment has been brought into Gaza, the transportation and storage of vaccines have been hindered by damaged roads, buildings, and power supplies. A limited electricity supply and ongoing fuel shortages further complicate the maintenance of cold storage.
For full vaccine protection, the children in Gaza will require a second dose within two months of the first. This will necessitate agreed pauses in fighting to facilitate the process, along with mobilising resources to sustain these efforts and ensuring the safety of healthcare workers.
Prior to the first rollout initiated on September 1, Israel had dismissed calls from the United Nations for a ceasefire, opting instead for localised humanitarian pauses lasting only a few days.
Concurrently, it escalated its bombing campaign in Gaza and carried out mass expulsions of civilians. Between August 19 and 24, the Israeli army issued the highest number of evacuation orders in a single week since October 7 2023, prompting the UN to temporarily suspend its humanitarian operations.
