Washington accuses Israel of breaching human rights of Palestinians

The US State Department has published a report accusing Israel of a series of human rights abuses throughout last year.

The annual report, published on Monday, gives details of human rights breaches around the world.

A 103-page section on Israel alleges that it carried out arbitrary killings and detentions, forced disappearances and punitive home demolitions, among other abuses.

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir is named in the report, which highlights his efforts to “make prisoners’ living spaces more crowded”.

Statements made by Mr Ben-Gvir in November “confirmed the detainees were, according to his instructions, shackled in dark cells with seven other prisoners and subjected to harsh living conditions”, the report reads.

It also notes the relocation of Palestinians detained in the occupied West Bank and Gaza to centres in Israel.

“Some human rights groups ... claimed the country’s detention of the majority of convicted Palestinians from the West Bank or Gaza in prisons inside Israel was a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention and raised concerns that relocations made it more difficult for the family members of Palestinians to visit their loved ones in detention,” the report reads.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the report shows that the US does not hold Israel to a different standard.

“As this report makes clear, in general, as we’re looking at human rights and the condition of human rights around the world, we apply the same standard to everyone,” he said on Monday.

“That doesn’t change whether the country in question is an adversary or competitor, a friend or an ally.”