Israeli court extends detention of soldiers in sexual abuse case

An Israeli military court has extended until at least Thursday the detention of five soldiers accused of sexually assaulting a Palestinian detainee from Gaza at the Sde Teiman detention facility in the Negev, according to local reports. 

On the same day, three suspects were released from custody after military prosecutors dropped their demand to extend their detention.

Israeli media reported that new information was provided for the case, which alleged the extent of the soldiers' involvement in the assault.

On July 29, Israel’s official broadcasting authority KAN reported that 10 Israeli soldiers were detained for causing "serious injuries" to a Palestinian detainee. 

According to Israeli forces, the soldiers are suspected of rape, inflicting bodily harm under aggravated circumstances, abuse under aggravated circumstances, and breaking the military code of conduct. 

The Israeli military said that some of the accused soldiers were also suspected of assault and obstructing the work of public officials.

Last Monday, masked Israeli military police detectives arrested the soldiers at the Sde Teiman base in southern Israel. 

Following the arrests, a group of far-right activists and lawmakers stormed the base, protesting, and later breached the Beit Lid base where the suspects were being detained and questioned. 

The investigation began after a Palestinian detainee, who had been arrested by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip several weeks prior, was brought from the base to a hospital with signs of serious abuse. 

On Monday, the Israeli rights group B'Tselem reported that Israel has been systematically abusing and torturing prisoners since the onset of the war in Gaza, subjecting Palestinian detainees to various forms of violence, including sexual abuse. 

The report, based on interviews with 55 Palestinians from Gaza, the West Bank, and Israel who had been detained in Israeli prisons since 7 October, highlighted that most detainees had not been tried. 

"The testimonies clearly indicate a systematic, institutional policy focused on the continual abuse and torture of all Palestinian prisoners held by Israel," said the report. 

B'Tselem detailed allegations of arbitrary beatings, degrading and humiliating treatment, sleep deprivation, and "the repeated use of sexual violence, in varying degrees of severity."

"The overall picture indicates abuse and torture carried out under orders, in utter defiance of Israel's obligations both under domestic law and international law," the report added. 

Allegations of prisoner abuse have surfaced repeatedly during the Gaza war, increasing international pressure on Israel regarding its conduct over the past ten months. 

The B'Tselem report indicated that the treatment of prisoners was a deliberate policy implemented under the direction of hardline National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. 

A spokesperson for the prison service noted that since the 7 October attacks, Ben-Gvir had ordered stricter prison conditions to reverse previous improvements. 

Qadura Fares, head of the Palestine Liberation Organization's Commission for Prisoners and Ex-Detainees Affairs, reiterated calls for an international commission of inquiry into the treatment of prisoners to hold Israel to account. 

"We have documentation of the crimes committed by Israel against Palestinian detainees in its prisons, and we have horrific testimonies of what detainees are subjected to, whether related to torture, rape, and other crimes," he said.