The UN’s expert on torture said on Friday she was investigating allegations of torture and mistreatment of Palestinian detainees in Israel, Reuters reported.

Dr Alice Jill Edwards said she had recently received allegations of torture and ill-treatment of Palestinians being detained in the Israeli-occupied West Bank or as a result of the conflict in Gaza.

“I’m looking into that as we speak and carrying out a fact-finding investigation,” said Edwards, the UN special rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

The UN human rights office says it has received numerous reports of mass detention, ill-treatment and enforced disappearance of Palestinians in northern Gaza by the Israeli military, and has recorded the arrests of thousands in the West Bank.