Vol. 35 No. 2-3 (2025): Torture Journal: Journal on Rehabilitation of Torture Victims and Prevention of Torture

We present in this double issue 2025(2–3) a special section devoted to Israel and Occupied Palestine, one of the most comprehensive collections of academic and field-based analyses published to date on torture, genocide, and the psychosocial mechanisms that sustain them in the context of prolonged occupation.

In his Editorial, Pau Pérez-Sales examines the convergence of empirical evidence from international organisations, Israeli and Palestinian sources, and public opinion studies to explain how collective narratives, social structures, and political incentives can normalise and sustain genocidal policies.

The special section opens with Hatem Yousef Abu Zaydah, whose autoethnographic account captures the daily psychological, humanitarian, and physical suffering endured by Gaza’s inhabitants during the ongoing war.

Mahmud Sehwail et al. follow with an analysis of the profile and psychological effects of torture among Palestinians detained in Israeli prisons after 7 October 2023, documenting systematic methods and the severe post-traumatic consequences faced by survivors.

Aaon et al. present a moving compilation of one hundred testimonies of genocidal torture from Gaza, providing unprecedented first-hand evidence of the patterns and logic of exterminatory violence.

Kateb and Al-Faqih examine colonial carcerality in Israeli detention practices after October 2023, revealing the legal and institutional mechanisms that underpin the systematic use of torture and arbitrary detention.

Grant Shubin brings a gender-competent legal and factual analysis of torture and ill-treatment of Palestinians from Gaza, exploring how gender power is deliberately used as a tool of domination and humiliation.

Following, Samah Jabr and Maria Helbich develop a human-rights approach to the logic behind the use of torture against Palestinians, situating it within a broader system of control and dehumanisation.

Lera et al. revisit the writings of Walid Daqqa to discuss how Palestinian consciousness is “melted” through imprisonment and violence, linking personal testimony with the ongoing destruction of identity.

John Hawkins explores the necropolitics of Gaza, analysing how architectures of control, surveillance, and confinement operate as instruments of psychological torture.

Returning to legal analysis, Layan Kateb and Rania Al-Faqih map Israel’s carceral and apartheid legal frameworks, tracing the erosion of Palestinian rights through intertwined military and civil structures.

The focus then shifts to children, where Kathryn Ravey examines starvation as torture, documenting deliberate hunger violations targeting Palestinian children. Moreover, Joel B. complements this with a study on the widespread torture of Palestinian minors used as human shields, illustrating the extreme vulnerability of this population.

We continue with Nasrallah and colleagues' analysis on Israeli attacks against medical personnel and facilities in Lebanon, assessing their classification as grave breaches of International Humanitarian Law. Weishut et al. report on a national conference to raise awareness on torture and the Istanbul Protocol, while Mika Foux provides a rare insight into the situation of torture survivors in Israel during the war, reflecting on trauma, fear, and moral injury. Dana Abuqamar closes this section with an examination of the West’s crackdown on the pro-Palestinian movement, asking whether punitive measures against civil society actors constitute a form of psychological and political torture.

In the News section, the Editorial Team summarises Alice Edwards’ report to the UN Human Rights Council on hostage-taking as torture; Lindiwe Dhlakama presents recent developments in digital mental health in Southwest Asia and North Africa; and Andrea Mølgaard reports on a new practice note prioritising survivors in the fight for justice.

Finally, in the Book Review, Nora Sveaass offers her reflections on Malcolm Evans’ Tackling Torture, discussing its central thesis on prevention and accountability within international mechanisms.

Together, these contributions offer a profound, multi-layered portrayal of the mechanisms, experiences, and consequences of torture, genocide, and denial in Israel and Occupied Palestine—an issue that stands as one of the most comprehensive and urgent in the journal’s history.