United Nations (UN) expert on Monday slammed Israel and said that it has transformed the occupied Palestinian territories into an “open-air prison” by imprisoning more than 800,000 Palestinians since 1967.
The United Nations Human Rights Council stated that there are at least 160 Palestinian children languishing in Israeli prisons.
Albanese presented a report on the arbitrary detention of Palestinians, and said Israel is treating occupied Palestinian territory as an “outdoor prison”.
According to Albanese’s statement to the council, “Israel’s military occupation has made entire occupied Palestinian territory into an open-air prison, where Palestinians are constantly confined, surveilled, and disciplined.”
Albanese also said that several Palestinians were considered guilty without evidence, arrested without warrants, detained without charges or trial, and brutalised in Israeli custody.
In a summary of the special rapporteur’s presentation, the United Nations stated that Israel’s practice of unlawfully imprisoning Palestinians was “tantamount to international crimes” and “required an urgent investigation by the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court.”
“More so because these offences seemed to be part of a plan to “de-Palestinize” the area. The summary added, “This threatened the existence of a people as a cohesive national group.”
Albanese described an Israeli policy as an “apartheid imposition on the Palestinians”.
The special rapporteur also urged governments to recognise illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and hold those responsible for such illegal settlements for changing the demography of Palestinian territory.
However, according to the UN summary, Israel was not present for Albanese’s presentation and has repeatedly denied UN criticism.
| 
