Lack of accountability, transparency, and oversight

As this section demonstrates, both military and IPS detention facilities operate without transparency and in disregard of Israeli law and regulations as well as international legal norms. The prolonged violation of the most basic rights afforded to detainees and prisoners, resulting in irreversible physical and psychological harm and even death, reflects the absence of internal oversight, minimal attention to external scrutiny, and, on an individual level, a lack of any genuine fear of sanctions. When it comes to IPS facilities, this is an explicit policy dictated by the minister.

Even before the war, official data presented to the Knesset indicated that approximately 90% of complaints submitted to the National Prison Guards Investigation Unit end with no action taken against the guard involved. This supports the concern that IPS guards operate without effective oversight of their conduct, even more so in times of war. Within the context of the military, only two investigations are known to have resulted in prosecution for the abuse of detainees; to date, not a single soldier or prison guard is known to have stood trial for the death of a detainee.

The HCJ rarely intervenes in the conduct of the military or IPS. Additionally, while the Public Defender’s Office, a government agency that conducts official visits to IPS facilities, has sharply criticized IPS conduct and security prisoners’ and detention conditions, only a handful of its reports have been published, with the rest censored on the grounds that their publication could hurt Israeli hostages in Gaza. Freedom of Information petitions filed by ACRI have failed to yield their publication as required under the Freedom of Information Act.