The draft document compiled by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (Unrwa), the main UN agency supporting Palestinians, includes detailed testimony from detainees who describe an extensive range of ill-treatment.

They include being stripped and beaten, being forced into cages and attacked by dogs, forced into stress positions for extended periods, and subjected to “blunt force trauma” including the butts of guns and boots, resulting in some cases in “broken ribs, separated shoulders and lasting injuries”.

It says both men and women reported “threats and incidents of sexual violence and harassment” including inappropriate touching of women and beatings to men’s genitals.

In a statement provided to the BBC, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said: “The mistreatment of detainees during their time in detention or whilst under interrogation violates IDF values and contravenes IDF and is therefore absolutely prohibited.”

It rejected specific allegations including the denial of access to water, medical care and bedding. The IDF also said that claims regarding sexual abuse were “another cynical attempt to create false equivalency with the systematic use of rape as a weapon of war by Hamas”.