The United Nations on Wednesday denounced reports of “unacceptable” violations and even torture of Palestinian detainees, especially since the attack carried out by Hamas on October 7 inside Israel that led to the war on Gaza, and demanded an investigation.

The United Nations has long raised concerns about the conditions of Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons, but warned that the situation appears to have worsened since the start of the war.

In response to a question about a case in which the Israeli army recently admitted that its forces tied a wounded Palestinian to a military vehicle during a raid in the city of Jenin in the occupied West Bank, High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said it was “disgusting to see such completely unacceptable treatment.”

“There must be a transparent and independent investigation to find out what happened and to ensure that the perpetrators are brought to justice,” Türk said at a press conference in Geneva.

Türk's spokeswoman, Ravina Shamdasani, urged accountability in this case, warning that without it, "brazen violations like this will continue with impunity."

"At some point, you run out of condemning words to use in such incidents," she told AFP.

While the spokeswoman indicated that Israel acknowledged that the incident did not comply with its codes of conduct, she said that “defaming an entire community and stripping it of its humanity...almost enables and facilitates the behavior of Israeli forces.”

Aside from this issue, Shamdasani said that the United Nations Human Rights Office “has been receiving very disturbing and very painful reports about how Israeli forces have treated Palestinian detainees since October 7.”

She added that these reports include “people held incommunicado... subjected to torture, ill-treatment, handcuffing, and deprivation of food, water, and medicine,” noting also allegations of sexual violations of detainees.

“It is unacceptable and must stop,” she said.

Shamdasani said that the Human Rights Office raised this issue directly with the Israeli authorities and requested “a transparent investigation into these allegations,” but has not yet received an official response.

On Monday, when the Israeli authorities released Muhammad Abu Salamiya, director of Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, along with dozens of other detainees, he said that he had been subjected to “severe torture” during his arrest.

Shamdasani said that under international law, “there is an absolute prohibition on the use of torture under any circumstances,” including during war.