Anti-Israel group petitions ICC to probe Israeli health officials for war crimes at Sde Teiman

The anti-Israel Hind Rajab Foundation said this week it had petitioned the International Criminal Court to investigate Israeli doctors, hospital administrators, the Israeli Medical Association (IMA) and the ministries of health and defense for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide over alleged abuse of Palestinian inmates at the Sde Teiman military detention center.

The announcement was made on October 7, the three-year anniversary of the Hamas attack and massacres in southern Israel that sparked the war in Gaza.

Individuals identified in the petition include former health ministers Moshe Arbel and Uriel Busso as well as IMA President Zion Hagay, the association’s CEO Leah Wapner and head of its ethics board, Yosef Walfisch, the Foundation said.

The Foundation alleged that “physicians, nurses, and paramedics who served at the field hospital, together with former detainees, have documented the abuses carried out within this system.”

It accused the IMA of “legitimizing the abuse and torture carried out at Sde Teiman.”

It called on the ICC prosecutors to “investigate a chain of responsibility extending from senior political officials who designed the policy and officials who issued binding directives, to the military commanders, medical professionals, and professional bodies that implemented or legitimized the system.”

Sde Teiman, in southern Israel, repeatedly faced accusations of maltreatment and torture of Gazan inmates held there following the Hamas-led onslaught of October 7, 2023, that sparked the Gaza war.

Throughout the war, various media outlets and rights organizations alleged the extreme use of physical restraints, amputations due to prolonged use of handcuffs, beatings, and neglect of medical problems at the facility.

The Israeli military has denied any systematic abuse or improper treatment, asserting that any such cases were investigated fully.

Five reservists serving at Sde Teiman were arrested and indicted last year after being accused of severely abusing a Palestinian security detainee in 2024, sparking intense political controversy. The scandal eventually led to the removal of then-military advocate general Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi after she admitted to leaking footage of the alleged abuse to the media, while allegedly lying about the matter as she claimed to investigate the same leak.

Earlier this year, Military Advocate General Maj. Gen. Itai Ofir ordered the cancellation of the indictment against the five suspects, citing “complexity regarding the existing evidence”; the release of the detainee himself back to Gaza in the October 2025 ceasefire without his testifying on the matter; and an “abuse of process” claim by the defendants due to the leak scandal.

In a 2025 BBC investigation, former prisoners held at Sde Teiman and who were eventually released back to Gaza alleged that they were subjected to torture, including “being stripped, blindfolded, cuffed and beaten,” as well as “given electric shocks, menaced by dogs, and denied access to medical care.” Claims included sexual abuse and the use of chemicals and fire as tools of torture.

Some claimed to have witnessed the deaths of fellow prisoners.

The report also stated mistreatment by Israeli medical staff, with one former detainee saying he was shackled to a hospital bed and made to wear a diaper instead of being allowed to use the toilet while receiving treatment for injuries sustained at Sde Teiman.

In addition to the detainees’ testimonies, the BBC report drew on accounts from a lawyer who met with two of the prisoners during their detention and medical professionals who later treated several of them and shared further details of their condition.

The lawyer described that one prisoner he visited had been “subjected to severe beatings, humiliation, degradation and stripping during his arrest until he was transferred to prison.”

The Israel Defense Forces stated then that it “completely rejects accusations of systematic abuse of detainees.” The military said it “takes any… actions which contradict its values very seriously… Specific complaints about inappropriate behavior by detention facility staff or insufficient conditions are forwarded for examination by the relevant authorities and are dealt with accordingly. In appropriate cases, disciplinary actions are taken against the staff members of the facility, and criminal investigations are opened.”

In its announcement, the Hind Rajab Foundation said, “Today’s submission is only the beginning,” adding it was “preparing files on Israeli medical professionals with dual nationalities who participated directly in Israel’s genocide in Gaza. We will bring each case before national prosecutors in every jurisdiction where these individuals hold citizenship.”