The UN warned Israel over alleged abuses against rights defenders and detainees, calling for stronger legal protections and impartial investigations.

The UN Committee Against Torture addressed several concerns with Israel's alleged mistreatment of human rights defenders, journalists, whistleblowers, prisoners, and former military advocate-general Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, in a statement last week.

In Clause 47 of its statement, the committee called upon Israel to "ensure that all human rights defenders and journalists are able to carry out their legitimate work in an enabling environment, free from threats, reprisals, violence, or other forms of intimidation and harassment."

The committee also urged Israel to release all "human rights defenders, journalists, and others who are arbitrarily detained as a result of exercising their rights to defend rights and freely expressing themselves."

It also called on Israel to "investigate promptly, thoroughly, and impartially all allegations of arbitrary arrest, extrajudicial killing and other torture or ill-treatment of human rights defenders and journalists, prosecute and punish appropriately those found guilty, and provide victims with redress."

In addition, the committee called on Israel to "provide detailed information on the situation of and any prosecution or disciplinary proceedings concerning Major-General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi and recommends that it establish a whistleblower mechanism to ensure that reliable information about torture and ill-treatment can be provided without risk of reprisals or prosecutions."

The committee also expressed its concern over allegations of arbitrarily detaining human rights defenders and journalists in the West Bank, and allegations of deliberate targeting of journalists in Gaza.

UN cm'tee against torture condemns Hamas's Oct. 7 massacre, but calls Israel's response 'disproportionate'

The committee expressed condolences to Israel for the "reprehensible loss of life and indelible physical and emotional scars left on victims and families resulting from" Hamas's October 7, 2023, massacre, "unequivocally condemning" the terror attack.

However, while it recognized Israel's need to respond to security threats, it denounced what it called the "disproportionality" of Israel's response as something that is "of grave concern."

Clause 12 of the committee's statement addressed concerns over information that indicated Palestinians suspected of a criminal offense who were "deprived of their liberty" did not "receive all fundamental legal safeguards, in law or in practice, from the outset of their deprivation of liberty."

The committee was also concerned that "access to legal counsel, communication with family members, and presentation before a judge may be denied for significant periods in excess of international standards."

In addition, it was concerned that "medical examinations upon deprivation of liberty are frequently cursory and that detainees have allegedly been requested to sign documents in Hebrew, despite not speaking the language."

The committee called on Israel to ensure that all detained individuals are informed of their rights and how to exercise them, as well as the reason for their arrest, and any charges against them, in a language that they understand, as well as the right to promptly consult with a lawyer of their own choosing in a confidential manner.

The committee also called on Israel to ensure the right to a free-of-charge medical examination by a doctor of the detainee's choice, with full medical confidentiality, as well as the right to notify a contact of their detention and the right to be promptly presented before a judge.