Israel committed serious human rights violations in 2023, according to the US State Department’s 2023 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, which was released on Monday afternoon.
There were several credible reports that the government or its agents committed arbitrary or unlawful killings in 2023, the report said. There were also reports of disappearances by or on behalf of government authorities, mostly relating to the war that broke out with Hamas’s October 7 attacks.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir is identified in the report for his announcement of new restrictions for detainees accused of terrorist crimes on October 23. Ben-Gvir confirmed that Hamas members who allegedly carried out the attack on October 7 were subjected to harsh living conditions, per his instructions.
According to the report, NGOs identified cases where authorities applied different laws to residents of Jerusalem based on their ethnicity or religion, regardless of their Israeli citizenship status. Military law allowed the indefinite administrative detention without charge or trial of Palestinians from the West Bank or Gaza detained or imprisoned within Israel.
The report also said thousands of Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza who were held in administrative detention in prisons were not informed of the charges against them.
Israeli authorities were found to generally respect the rights of persons arrested on non- “security-related” criminal charges.
Another NGO found the Israeli government violated a law that prohibited the detention of children younger than 12 as authorities occasionally held Palestinian children younger than that age under administrative detention.
Unlawful trial process
The report said Israeli citizens who committed crimes within the West Bank were subject only to Israeli law and could only be tried in civilian courts within Israel, whereas Palestinians in the West Bank were subject to trial in Israeli military courts, a practice criticized by NGOs.
NGOs also reported that hundreds and possibly thousands of Palestinians detained in Gaza under the Unlawful Combatants Law had no affiliation with Hamas. According to the report, the government arrested hundreds of Palestinians suspected of being Hamas militants following October 7.
The government amended the Unlawful Combatants Law after October 7 by emergency regulations increasing the maximum length of time for detention from 96 hours to 30 days the length of time a detainee could be held without being brought before a judge from 14 to 45 days.
The report found the government did not permit International Committee of the Red Cross visits after October 7. NGOs, including Military Court Watch, HaMoked, and B’Tselem, accused authorities of using isolation to punish or silence politically prominent Palestinian detainees, according to the report.
The report found authorities regularly held “security” detainees in lengthy administrative detention, and in some cases, authorities never brought security detainees to trial.
According to the report, significant conflict-related abuses were documented throughout the year.
“Human rights groups reported extensive and in many cases unprecedented conflict-related abuses and alleged the commission of war crimes by Israel, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), and other Palestinian militant groups,” the report said.
The government particularly limited and restricted freedoms of peaceful assembly and association for Palestinian residents of Jerusalem, the report said. During the conflict after October 7, the report found the government limited demonstrations for citizens expressing solidarity with the Palestinian civilian population in Gaza or calling for a ceasefire.
Local and international media and NGOs reported weakened enforcement of protections for minorities following October 7.
“The October 7 attacks gave rise to significant concerns, including heightened fear and mistrust between Jewish and Arab citizens in daily life, impacting workplaces, campuses, and social media as well as a widespread fear of the potential for intercommunal violence within the country,” the report said.