UN spokesman says reported torture of Palestinian detainees ‘extremely concerning’
UN chief Antonio Guterres’s spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, says reports that Palestinian bodies returned to Gaza this week show signs of torture “are extremely concerning”.
“And as we’ve said many times, there will need to be accountability for all the violations of international law we’ve seen during this conflict,” Dujarric said during a news conference, without going into more specifics about the allegations.
As we’ve been reporting, authorities in Gaza say the bodies of Palestinians who were held in Israeli detention show marks of violence, including possible executions.
Guterres, eternally concerned, does nothing.
Bodies of Palestinian prisoners sent by Israel unrecognisable: Gaza hospital director
Mohammed Zaqout, director of hospitals in Gaza’s Health Ministry, has spoken to our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic about the “clear signs of torture” found on the bodies of Palestinians that were returned to the Gaza Strip this week.
“One body shows signs of hanging with a rope still wrapped around the neck, blindfolds around the eyes and bound hands. That martyr was placed as is and sent to us,” Zaqout said from Khan Younis in southern Gaza.
Zaqout added that many of the bodies are unrecognisable, and only six killed Palestinian prisoners transferred from Israel have been identified so far.
