Gaza Genocide16 April, 20261 min read
Israeli Army Reinstates Soldiers Accused of Raping Palestinian Prisoner at Sde Teiman
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Unit 100 soldiers accused of torture and rape were allowed to return to reserve service. Indictments against five soldiers in the Sde Teiman case were dropped or canceled.
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Soldiers Reinstated
Israeli Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir reinstated five Unit 100 soldiers charged with raping and torturing a Palestinian detainee. The military prosecution dropped charges citing complexity in the evidentiary infrastructure and the detainee's release to Gaza. The detainee had been hospitalized with broken ribs, a punctured lung, and severe internal injuries including a stab wound in the anus.
Surveillance footage showed detainees bound and blindfolded while soldiers isolated one individual and attempted to shield their acts from the CCTV camera. The reinstatement sparked outrage among human rights groups and Palestinian officials.
Graphic Abuse Documented
The abuse was captured on surveillance cameras and leaked to Israeli media in August 2024. The footage showed soldiers beating the detainee, dragging him, stepping on his body, using a taser, and stabbing him in the anus. Medical officer Yoel Donchin described the injuries in blunt terms.
Two suspects failed polygraph tests when asked about inserting an object into the detainee's anus. Despite this, the military prosecutor ordered the indictment withdrawn.
Systematic Sexual Violence
The case comes amid a growing body of testimonies pointing to widespread torture and systematic sexual violence in Israeli prisons. A Euro-Med Monitor report described an organized state policy of sexual violence inside Israeli prisons. One detainee described being bound naked and repeatedly raped over two days.
The United Nations' inquiry accused Israel of using sexualised torture and rape as a method of war. More than 9,600 Palestinian prisoners remain in Israeli jails, including children and women.