NEW YORK: The UN independent expert on torture on Tuesday urged Israel to overhaul its detention laws, policies and practices after documenting widespread allegations of torture, sexual violence and other serious abuses against Palestinian detainees since October 2023. Alice Jill Edwards said emergency measures introduced by Israel after the October 2023 Hamas attack had exposed Palestinian detainees to torture, degrading treatment, prolonged incommunicado detention and potentially unlawful deaths in custody.

UN Special Rapporteur on Palestine Francesca Albanese said on Saturday that Israel uses torture against Palestinian detainees in Israeli detention centers and against the wider…

While Israel said the claims amount to "blood libel," a spokesperson for the UN Human Rights Office said, "torture and ill-treatment, including sexual and gender-based violence,…