Force Independent Investigations of Israel’s Use of Rape & Torture

I am writing to demand that Congress immediately force Israel to open Gaza, Sde Teiman, military detention sites, prisons, morgues, hospitals, and detainee records to independent international investigators, journalists, forensic teams, UN monitors, human rights organizations, the ICRC, and legal observers. This is not about one disputed allegation or one organization. Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor has documented rape, sexual torture, forced nudity, genital torture, rape with objects, filming of assaults, and alleged use of trained military dogs in sexual assaults against Palestinian detainees. B’Tselem has documented Israeli prisons as a network of torture camps, with testimonies describing sexual assault, genital beatings, forced stripping, dogs set on prisoners, and forced anal penetration with objects. OHCHR has reported secret detention, torture, dogs released on detainees, sexual and gender-based violence, and denial of ICRC access. Drop Site has reported on the Sde Teiman gang-rape case, caught on camera, in which a Palestinian detainee suffered broken ribs, a punctured lung, and a torn rectum. Amnesty has condemned Israel’s impunity after charges were dropped against soldiers accused in that case. Israel and its affiliated defenders are now trying to discredit the organizations documenting these crimes. That is not accountability. That is obstruction. If these reports are false, Israel should have nothing to fear from independent investigators, forensic specialists, journalists, UN experts, and international monitors entering Gaza and detention sites immediately. Congress must stop shielding Israel from scrutiny. Demand full access to all detention sites and detainees. Demand preservation of video, medical records, forensic evidence, prison logs, military orders, chain-of-command records, and the names and locations of all Palestinians detained by Israel. Demand access for lawyers and the ICRC. Demand cooperation with the ICC, ICJ, UN Commission of Inquiry, UN Special Procedures, and independent human rights investigators. Continuing U.S. aid after credible documentation of rape, torture, sexual violence, forced disappearance, starvation, mass killing, and abuse of Palestinian prisoners is not neutral. It supports and enables the system committing these crimes. Suspend all military aid, weapons transfers, intelligence support, and diplomatic cover. Force Israel to allow independent investigations and comply with international law. No more blank checks. No more cover-ups. No more attacking the messenger. Congress must act now.