NEW YORK CITY: The UN’s special rapporteur on torture, Alice Jill Edwards, on Friday reiterated her urgent call for the unconditional and immediate release of all hostages held by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, after disturbing videos showing severely emaciated captives emerged this week.
“Cruelty is being used as psychological warfare, with devastating consequences for individuals, families, societies and for peace,” Edwards said from Geneva.
She warned that the conflict in Gaza is increasingly being fought in the public arena, with graphic media coverage intensifying the psychological harm.
Last weekend, Hamas released a disturbing video of 24-year-old Evyatar David, an Israeli taken hostage at the Nova Music Festival during the Oct. 7 attacks.
He appeared extremely thin and pale, so much so that his father said he barely recognized his son. The video showed David, under the control of his Hamas captors, being forced to dig what appeared to be his own grave inside a narrow underground tunnel.
Out of respect for the wishes of David’s family, the video is not being shown as they believe he is being used for cruel propaganda purposes. They called for urgent international action to help secure his release.
Edwards said that it is not only hostage-takers who could be held criminally liable under international law, but also any individuals or groups that aid in concealment or detention.
“Anyone involved must be held to account for their involvement, in a court of law,” she said.
She also appealed to countries with influence in the region to help break the deadlock in ceasefire negotiations, and called for international observers to be granted immediate access to all hostages and detainees.
“If anyone was immune to the cruelty being inflicted on the hostages, these latest videos should be proof enough,” Edwards said.
She also repeated her broader calls for an end to hostilities in Gaza, the urgent expansion of humanitarian aid to the territory, the release of arbitrarily detained Palestinians, and independent investigations into all alleged violations of international law.
She urged all parties to resume negotiations toward a comprehensive peace settlement based on a two-state solution to the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.
Special rapporteurs are part of what is known as the special procedures of the UN Human Rights Council. They are independent experts who work on a voluntary basis, are not members of UN staff and are not paid for their work.
