HONG KONG – The Israeli army is being accused of “systematically” abusing Palestinians in the West Bank city of Hebron, according to a new report by Israeli human rights group B’Tselem, based on testimonies alleging sexual abuse, violence, and humiliation.

Titled “Unleashed: Abuse of Palestinians by Israeli Soldiers in the Center of Hebron”, the report is based on more than 20 testimonies by Palestinians collected by B’Tselem between May and August.

Hebron is the second-largest Palestinian city in the West Bank. According to the report, about 900 Israeli settlers live among tens of thousands of Palestinians.

More than 1,000 soldiers uphold the systems of separation and military control in the city, including the widely documented restriction of Palestinians’ movement over the years.

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The report said it appeared that Palestinian residents of Hebron may, at any moment, “fall victim to brutal violence”, openly inflicted on them as they go about their daily affairs.

It added that the victims — mostly young men — “were easy targets” and chosen randomly “with no connection to their actions”.

The report said many of the victims were forcibly taken to military facilities, posts, or watchtowers, where they were attacked by one or more soldiers. Others were abused inside inspection rooms at checkpoints or in military vehicles, it alleged.

In the report, victims described severe physical and mental abuse, including punching and kicking; blows delivered with firearms, batons, or a chair; slamming their head against a wall or their body against the floor; whipping with a belt; and, in one case, stabbing.

Three of the victims had their faces covered to the point of suffocation, the report said, with other cases including soldiers pouring an unidentified putrid liquid on victims or throwing garbage and plastic bottles at them.

The report said soldiers threw a ball at the heads of at least three victims and, in another three cases, put cigarettes out on the victims' skin.

“Most of the victims were abused while blindfolded, with their hands tied, and forced to stay in painful positions for hours on end. Some were forced to sit in the scorching sun for hours, and others in a room with freezing air conditioning. Some were deprived of food and drink for long periods,” the report said.

The report said that during physical assaults, the victims were also verbally abused, including swearing and humiliating remarks made against them, family members, or their religion.

It listed that several victims recounted varying degrees of sexual violence and physical humiliation, ranging from explicit threats of rape to forced undressing and strong blows to the genitals.

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B’Tselem executive director Yuli Novak said people stepping out to go about their daily business are seized by soldiers “and beaten to the point of passing out as a matter of routine”.

“The testimonies collected by B’Tselem field researchers paint a shocking picture of the violent behavioral norms of Israeli soldiers,” said Novak in a statement.

“After more than a year of Israel’s unrelenting war against the Palestinian people, abuse of Palestinian passersby has become a desirable, even required practice,” she said.

“These are not isolated incidents or a departure from operating procedures, but rather a pattern representative of systemic attitudes, which are, themselves, the result of the dehumanization of Palestinians, steered by the Israeli government,” she added.

The report said the Hamas-led attack on Oct 7 last year “greatly exacerbated the ongoing dehumanization of Palestinians in Israeli discourse”, which became filled with “explicit calls for violence and revenge by politicians and opinion leaders”.

With Palestinians collectively presented as “an undifferentiated mass of enemies”, causing them harm has become considered not only legitimate “but even welcome”, it said.

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Throughout the year, the report said many Jewish-Israelis have adopted the view that “every Palestinian is guilty until proven otherwise — including military officers directly in charge of running the daily lives of Palestinians in the Occupied Territories”.

“This approach takes different forms in the various territories under Israel's control. Its most aggressive manifestation is in the Gaza Strip, with extensive, indiscriminate use of lethal weapons in crowded residential areas, massive destruction of civilian infrastructure, mass deportation, starvation, and forcible transfer,” the report noted.

It also highlighted the creation of "kill zones" where anyone spotted is shot regardless of their involvement in the fighting. At least 44,000 Palestinians have been killed since Hamas attacked Israel last year, taking in more than 200 captives and killing 1,200 Israelis and foreigners.

Arie Afriansyah, associate professor at the Faculty of Law at Universitas Indonesia, told China Daily that such reports and evidence “should be considered by the International Criminal Court (ICC) to be used in the future legal proceedings against all Israeli war criminals”.

On Nov 21, ICC judges issued warrants of arrest for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant, along with Hamas military commander Mohammed Deif.

The ICC said that there were reasonable grounds to believe they bore criminal responsibility for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in the West Bank and Gaza, said she had received “distressing reports” in a post on X on Dec 3.

Albanese said she had been told of civilians and medical personnel being allegedly arrested, detained, or killed by Israeli forces conducting military operations in the northern West Bank.

“Meanwhile, in Gaza, attacks on highly distressed civilians continue, amid severe shortage of food and other essential supplies,” she said.

“As per (International Court of Justice) deliberations, Israel must withdraw its troops from the occupied Palestinian territory; and it's time for the UN to deploy a protective presence to prevent further harm to the occupied Palestinian population,” Albanese added.

Contact the writer at jan@chinadailyapac.com