Five IDF reservists charged with abuse of Palestinian prisoner at Sde Teiman detention facility

Five IDF reserve soldiers from the "Force 100" prison riot control unit of the Military Police have been formally charged with severe injury and aggravated assault for their involvement in the abuse of a Palestinian security prisoner at the Sde Teiman military detention facility.

According to the charges filed by the Military Advocate General’s Office, the soldiers severely beat and assaulted the prisoner after he was brought to the facility on July 5, 2024.

The assault occurred shortly after a search was conducted on the detainee, with the soldiers, along with several other members of the riot control unit, reportedly attacking him while he was shackled and blindfolded.

“For 15 minutes, the accused kicked the detainee, stomped on him, stood on his body, hit him and pushed him all over his body, including with clubs, dragged his body along the ground, and used a taser gun on him, including on his head,” the indictment states.

During the violent assault, one of the soldiers allegedly “stabbed the detainee in his buttock with a sharp object” near his anus, which caused a tear in his rectal wall.

After an hour, detention facility officials noticed that the detainee was bleeding heavily, and he was subsequently rushed to the hospital for emergency treatment.

The prisoner reportedlysuffered multiple injuries, including seven broken ribs, a punctured lung, and severe damage to his rectum, which required surgery and a stoma fitting that was later removed.

His injuries are consistent with extreme brutality, and the case has drawn widespread condemnation.

The arrest of the five soldiers at Sde Teiman in 2024 triggered outrage, particularly among coalition politicians and government ministers, some of whom attempted to prevent the arrests from taking place.

The anger surrounding the charging of the men is the latest chapter in the ongoing controversy surrounding the Sde Teiman detention facility, which has become notorious for alleged human rights abuses.

Sde Teiman, located west of Beersheba, was initially set up as a temporary detention center following the October 7 Hamas invasion and massacres in southern Israel.

The facility was intended to be a short-term processing center for terror suspects before transferring them to permanent prisons.

However, the massive number of Palestinians detained in the wake of the attacks, coupled with overcrowding in Israeli prisons, meant that many detainees remained at Sde Teiman for long periods of time.

Throughout the conflict, detainees included Palestinian combatants captured in Gaza as well as others suspected of terrorist activity.

Reports of widespread abuse at the facility began to surface shortly after its establishment.

A May 2024 investigative report by CNN, based on testimony from Israeli whistleblowers and former detainees, revealed disturbing accounts of severe mistreatment.

These included the use of excessive physical restraints, amputations due to prolonged handcuffing, beatings, medical neglect, arbitrary punishment, and degrading treatment such as denying detainees access to toilets.

Further revelations from prosecutor documents highlighted instances of beatings with clubs, rifle barrels, and fists, as well as threats of violence to force prisoners into degrading actions.

In addition to these reports, a recent United Nations inquiry published details of even more egregious forms of abuse, including the use of electric shocks, waterboarding, cigarette burns, and stress positions.

Detainees were also reportedly subjected to prolonged blindfolding, food and water deprivation, and sleep deprivation.

The Military Advocate General’s Office is now investigating over 35 incidents in which Palestinian detainees have died while in Israeli custody, although the specific locations of these deaths remain unclear.

As of now, thousands of Palestinians remain detained in Israeli facilities, with many of them captured during the October 7 Hamas massacre or the subsequent military operations in Gaza.

The UN has stated that some detainees are held for “screening purposes” or intelligence gathering.

The growing outrage over the abuse of detainees at Sde Teiman and other facilities sparked further unrest within Israel.

In July, a mob of far-right activists, including at least two members of the Knesset, stormed both Sde Teiman and the Beit Lid military base in protest of the arrest of nine soldiers accused of abusing a Palestinian inmate.

Israeli military chief Herzi Halevi condemned the actions, describing them as “unlawful behaviours bordering on anarchy.”