A/HRC/43/70 to enter, observing that security personnel had been deployed to arrest them. The Deputy Director and the Coordinator of Complaints and Investigations of the Independent Commission for Human Rights, who were monitoring the demonstrations, were hospitalized after being beaten by the Gaza security forces. Four employees of local human rights organizations attempting to monitor the demonstrations were prevented from doing so and briefly held by the Gaza security forces. During that period, local human rights organizations and the Independent Commission for Human Rights were denied access to the detention facilities where demonstrators and journalists were being held. OHCHR publicly condemned the violence by the Gaza authorities at the time. 52 49. In an alarming development, on 17 August 2019, the spokesperson for the Palestinian police released a statement banning all activities of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex advocacy group Al Qaws, calling on the public to report their members to the police for prosecution. Thousands of messages of hatred and incitement to violence followed on social media, including death threats against persons perceived to be associated with Al Qaws. OHCHR monitored cases of individuals being physically threatened. The police removed the statement from its web page on 19 August 2019 but did not formally retract it nor publicly condemn the incitement to violence and hate speech. 50. In East Jerusalem, based on an order signed by the Israeli Minister of Public Security, the Israeli security forces raided the Burj Al-Luqluq Social Centre Society on 17, 18 and 31 August 2019, and prevented a seminar and football tournament from taking place, alleging they were sponsored by the Palestinian Authority. The Israeli police summoned one staff member of the Centre for questioning, beat the coordinator of the football tournament (who sustained two fractures in his arm) and arrested four staff members for several hours of interrogations before releasing one on unpaid bail and the others with a five-day ban from the Centre. 5. Arbitrary detention, torture and ill-treatment 51. According to the Palestinian Prisoner Society, the Israeli security forces arrested 5,846 Palestinians during the reporting period, including 901 children and 120 women. As of 31 October 2019, the Israel Prison Service reported that 4,731 Palestinians were in detention, of whom 4,515 were men, 185 were boys and 31 were women, compared with 5,426 during the previous reporting period.53 The number includes 460 persons held in administrative detention, including three boys, compared to 481 in October 2018. The NGO Public Committee against Torture in Israel received 35 allegations of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and torture during the reporting period, seven of which concerned women and six of which concerned boys. 52. A trend of concern is the use of threats of indefinite detention against human rights defenders and journalists in Israeli detention, who are interrogated for long hours in stress positions and sleep deprived. The use of plea bargains at the end of detention under such circumstances further raises concerns of coerced confession. 53. Concerning Palestinian Authority detention centres in the West Bank, the Ministry of the Interior reported that 1,134 persons were detained as of 21 April 2019 and the Independent Commission for Human Rights reported that the Palestinian Authority had administratively detained 213 persons under Governor’s orders during the reporting period. In Gaza, Hamas reported holding 1,885 persons in reform and rehabilitation centres as at 23 April 2019. 54. The Independent Commission for Human Rights received 354 complaints of illtreatment and torture during the reporting period, 172 of which concerned persons under Palestinian Authority detention and 182 of which concerned persons in Gaza, under Hamas’ de facto authority. The Commission also reported a decrease in the number of members of the Salafist groups detained in Gaza against a steady increase in the number Fatah members and supporters. On many occasions, victims were summoned and subsequently detained for 52 53 www.facebook.com/UNHumanRightsOPT/posts/1082548781933446. A/HRC/40/39, para. 30. 11