UK government 'legally obliged' to investigate alleged Israeli torture of Palestinian detainees

The UK government is breaching its obligations under international law to prevent torture by failing to investigate the mounting allegations of Israeli abuses against Palestinian detainees, legal experts have told The New Arab.

Israel is facing dozens of claims of torture and abuse against Palestinian detainees with horrific reports emerging in recent weeks.

Since the outbreak of the Gaza war in October, hundreds of Palestinian men, women, and children have been rounded up and taken to secret Israeli detention facilities. 

Rights groups and international media investigations have found that detainees are facing mental, physical, and sexual abuse, including violence, humiliation, and food and medical deprivation at the hands of Israeli authorities.

A recent report by respected Jerusalem-based rights organisation BT’Selem titled ‘Welcome to Hell’ detailed 53 cases of abuse based on accounts of survivors, Israeli physicians, and whistleblowers.

One 25-year-old lawyer and father who was taken from Gaza said of how he was detained, blindfolded, and told to lie down on a rotting corpse. He was taken to Sde Teiman detention camp in the Negev desert where he was beaten, stripped naked, and left for two days in a room with blaring disco music which made his ears bleed.

The BT’Selem report followed a separate investigation by the United Nations Human Rights Office condemning the forced disappearance of detainees and accounts of Israeli forces using torture, including waterboarding and releasing dogs on people. 

In recent weeks, Israeli society has been rocked by the case of five soldiers arrested on suspicion of sexually abusing a Palestinian man at Sde Teiman. The man was so badly abused he was hospitalised with tears to his rectum and internal organs, according to Israeli media reports.

The UK government, a close ally of Israel, has remained silent in the face of the allegations.

Zaki Sarraf, legal officer from the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP), told The New Arab that since the outbreak of the Gaza war, the government has not even done the "bare minimum".

"What we’ve seen is the UK providing diplomatic cover by obfuscating and deflecting responsibilities that Israel has to ensure the protection of civilians," Sarraf said, adding that by turning a blind eye, they are giving Israel a licence to do "whatever it pleases".

Some 10,000 Palestinians from Gaza and the occupied West Bank are detained by Israel, many held without charge, according to the Palestinian Prisoners Club. Detention conditions are said to have worsened since October with one Palestinian official saying Israeli guards are waging “a war of revenge” on prisoners.

At least 53 Palestinians have died in Israeli custody since October, the UN has said. Israel claimed these individuals had previous health conditions, but this is near impossible to independently verify since Israel blocked visits from the International Committee of the Red Cross.

The ICRC holds a mandate to ensure the rights of detainees are being respected, such as access to lawyers, medical care, food, or to investigate cases of ill-treatment.

The UK is duty-bound to act if there is the risk of torture being committed, according to international and UK law.

Sarraf explained that the UK has obligations rooted in the 'universal jurisdiction' aspect of the UN Convention on Torture, as well as its own Criminal Justice Act of 1998.

"The UK is duty bound to suppress and prevent the practices, irrespective of where they are," Sarraf said. "So not just of course torture taking place in the UK but wherever it is, they are obligated to prevent and suppress."

"Because torture is such a grave breach of international law, it can allow for prosecutions to take place irrespective of where the conduct took place," he said, explaining that the UN Convention on Torture of 1991, known as CAT, was integrated into UK law, while it was also ratified by Israel.

"Even if torture didn’t take place in the UK, but a UK national was responsible for aspects of that torture, then they could be prosecuted in the UK," Sarraf explained. "Even for crimes which took place in Israel, for example."

Despite the legal framework to hold foreign powers to account, legal experts have noted that the UK has done little to scrutinise Israel for its occupation and discriminatory tactics.

Freedom From Torture, a UK-registered charity that supports torture survivors, has noted the UK government’s double standards in upholding international law throughout the Israel-Gaza war in comparison with other global conflicts.

Natasha Tsangarides, associate director of advocacy at Freedom From Torture, told The New Arab that it is "critically important" that the UK is consistent in upholding its international legal obligations.

"Any indication of a selective approach damages the cardinal principle of the universality of human rights, as the foundation for all human rights, including the right to be free from torture."

Diplomatic, business, and defence ties are all channels that could be used to pressure Israel, the legal experts said.

Sarraf of the ICJP said that the UK’s close ties to Israel give it greater room to challenge officials, rather than if the torture allegations were in a country such as Syria, for example, which London severed ties with in 2011.

"It would be a completely separate conversation if the UK had a very bad relationship where they couldn't exert any influence and they couldn't do anything to stop the extreme crimes that we're seeing on the ground," Sarraf said. "The reality is the opposite."

In March 2023, then-Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said that the UK’s "strong bilateral relationship with Israel allows us to raise issues where we disagree".

Yet despite repeated government reports and parliamentary records indicating that MPs and diplomats are aware of the long list of contraventions of international law by Israel, little action has been taken.

In 2012, a foreign office legal review found that Israel had broken eight international legal obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, as well as the Fourth Geneva Convention relating to the protection of civilians in war.

"Eleven years on, sadly little has changed," Flick Drummond, a Conservative MP, remarked during a parliamentary debate in April 2023.

As long as the international community continues to grant Israel impunity in its breaching of treaties, this culture of law-breaking will continue.

"The UK really does have a responsibility to ensure that torture isn't taking place [in Israel]... the legal basis is very clear," Sarraf said.