Forgotten Victims: Death, Torture, and Enforced Disappearance of Palestinian Detainees from Gaza by Palestinian Human Rights Organizations Council (PHROC)

55. With each passing day, Palestinian detainees are at risk of losing their lives, or the very least sustaining irreparable physical and mental harm. The worsening conditions in detention, combined with the use of unimaginable methods of torture – including extreme physical and psychological violence, sexual violence, starvation, and medical negligence – are contributing to a devastating crisis… The systematic and widespread torture and ill-treatment that Palestinian detainees have been subjected to, and their enforced disappearance is intrinsically linked to the ongoing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. Notably, Article II(b) of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide includes “causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group” as one of the five acts of genocide listed therein. It is worth noting that PCHR’s documentation contains exhaustive amounts of genocidal statements that have been made against the detainees.