Geneva, August 6 (RHC)-- The UN human rights office says Palestinians abducted by Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip were brutally beaten and waterboarded in the regime’s detention facilitates.

The office of UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk released a report on Wednesday that shows a “staggering” number of Palestinians — including men, women, children, journalists and human rights defenders — was abducted by the regime military forces since October 7th.  As of the end of June, it said, Israel’s prison service held more than 9,400 “security detainees.”

They have been “held in secret, without being given a reason for their detention” and without a lawyer, the report said.  “The testimonies gathered by my office and other entities indicate a range of appalling acts, such as waterboarding and the release of dogs on detainees, amongst other acts, in flagrant violation of international human rights law and international humanitarian law,” Turk said.

According to the report, “at least 53 Palestinian detainees” are known to have died in Israeli detention facilities.

The 23-page report also detailed “allegations of torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, including sexual abuse of women and men.”  Türk expressed serious concerns about the large number of people who are being held in the regime’s prisons.

Israel, according to the Gaza media office, has kidnapped at least 5,000 Palestinians since October 2023, when the military launched its bloodiest-ever war in the besieged territory. The fate of many of them or the conditions of their detention are still unknown, said the media office.