A UN committee urged Israel on Friday to set up an independent investigatory commission to probe claims of torture of Palestinians, and warned the situation had "gravely intensified" since the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led invasion of Israel and start of the Gaza war.

The United Nations Committee against Torture said it was "deeply concerned about reports indicating a de facto state policy of organized and widespread torture and ill-treatment" in Israel.

Israel has repeatedly denied allegations of torture or mistreatment of prisoners. The Israel Prison Service has said that it "operates in accordance with the law, under the strict supervision of numerous official inspectors."

The committee, whose 10 independent experts monitor the implementation of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment by member countries, stressed that it "unequivocally condemns the attack perpetrated by Hamas and other groups on October 7, 2023, against Israel."

But in a report published after a regular review of Israel, it "also expressed its deep concern over the disproportionate nature of Israel's response to these attacks."

And it decried "a range of policies adopted by Israel in the course of its continued unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory," warning that it risked leading to "cruel, inhuman or degrading living conditions for the Palestinian population."

The report said that the committee is "deeply troubled at reports indicating a de facto state policy of organized and widespread torture" through Israel's treatment of Palestinian prisoners, including "severe beatings, dog attacks, electrocution, waterboarding, [and] use of prolonged stress positions" as well as "the "systematic denial of medical care, excessive use of restraints, in some cases resulting in amputation."

The report also alleged the use of sexual violence and humiliation, including "allegations of rape, attempted rape, molestation, sexualized forms of torture, beatings administered while detainees were naked, specifically targeting their genitals, electrocution of the genitals and anus, the use of repeated, unnecessary, degrading strip searches," as well as "being made to act like animals or being urinated on," and more.

The alleged acts of torture, the committee said, "amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, and form part of the actus reus of genocide."

The experts called on Israel to "establish an independent, impartial and effective ad hoc investigatory commission to review and investigate all allegations of torture and ill-treatment committed during the current armed conflict."

Israel should also "prosecute those responsible, including superior officers, and ensure the immediate entry of necessary humanitarian aid and aid workers into Gaza," the committee members said.

The report was published following the committee's periodic review of Israel earlier this month, when the body's rapporteur, Peter Vedel Kessing, said that torture and mistreatment of Palestinians by Israeli authorities have escalated, reaching "unprecedented levels."

He told the Israeli delegation, including representatives from the justice and foreign ministries, as well as the prison service, that the committee had been "deeply appalled by the description we have received... of what appears to be systematic and widespread torture and ill-treatment of Palestinians, including children."

Israel's Ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Daniel Meron, rejected the allegations, branding them "disinformation."

Israel, he said, was "committed to upholding its obligations in line with our moral values and principles, even in the face of the challenges posed by a terrorist organization."

The report noted that 75 Palestinian prisoners are alleged to have died in Israeli custody since October 7, noting that the conditions of prisoners have "severely deteriorated" under the leadership of National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.

The far-right minister who oversees Israel's prison system has made statements, in addition to other Israeli officials, the report alleged, indicating "a deliberate state policy of collective punishment" against Palestinians.

Last year, Ben Gvir boasted that he had degraded prison conditions to the legal minimum. Under pressure from rights groups, conditions improved slightly.

The report is also critical of Israel's "Unlawful Combatants Law," which allows for indefinite administrative detention without charge or trial. While the practice was primarily deployed against Palestinians, administrative detention has also been used in the past against some extremist Jewish Israelis.

Despite objections from the Shin Bet security agency, Defense Minister Israel Katz decided last year to end the practice for West Bank settlers, meaning Israel would only use the controversial policy of holding suspects without charge against Palestinian terror suspects.

The measure sees individuals held without charge for up to six months at a time, under limited court review. The detentions can be renewed indefinitely while allowing military prosecutors to keep suspects from being able to see the evidence against them.

As of November 2, the Israel Prison Service holds 9,206 Palestinians suspected or convicted of what Israel classifies as security offenses -- crimes ranging from terror attacks to publishing incitement online.

According to the human rights organization Physicians for Human Rights, among the Palestinian security detainees are 3,368 administrative detainees, as well as 3,389 inmates awaiting trial who have not yet been convicted, including 350 children and 48 women.

Israel has freed more than 5,000 Palestinian security prisoners over three separate ceasefire deals since the start of the war, in exchange for the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza.