House arrest of 5 soldiers suspected in Sde Teiman abuse case extended by two weeks
Reservists will remain on house arrest through Sept. 4, as prosecution says it will complete its investigation in the coming days, hand over materials to defense team next week
A military court on Thursday approved a request to extend by two weeks the house arrest of five reservist soldiers suspected of seriously abusing a Palestinian detainee at the Sde Teiman detention facility.
The soldiers will be held under house arrest until September 4, according to the decision.
The court further ruled that a hearing can be held on August 25, before the prosecution files indictments, for the defense to offer an alternative to detention for the suspects.
A Military Police investigation into the high-profile abuse case is due to be finished in the coming days, according to the Israel Defense Forces, and all the investigation materials will be handed over to the defense at the beginning of next week.
In all, 10 soldiers at the Sde Teiman detention facility were detained late last month over the suspected sexual abuse of a Hamas police officer who had been arrested in the Gaza Strip. Prosecutors did not seek to hold five of them in custody, following new evidence in the case.
The arrests prompted riots by far-right protesters who broke into both Sde Teiman and the Beit Lid base in the West Bank.
According to the IDF, the soldiers are suspected of aggravated sodomy (a charge equivalent to rape), causing bodily harm under aggravated circumstances, abuse under aggravated circumstances and conduct unbecoming of a soldier.
Footage aired by Channel 12 news earlier this month showed soldiers at Sde Teiman taking aside a detainee, who had been lying face down on the floor, then surrounding him with riot shields while they allegedly committed the abuse.
In court on Thursday, military prosecutors presented an account of what they believe took place, based on testimonies collected over the last two weeks, including from the detainee who was allegedly abused.
According to the Maariv newspaper, the prosecution said that one of the suspects stood on the detainee, who had fallen to the ground, and, over the course of some 15 minutes, pushed him, dragged him on the floor, and used a taser gun against him. In the midst of this, another soldier allegedly pushed an object into the detainee’s rectum.
The beating is said to have bruised the detainee, broken his ribs, and pierced his rectum, and he required medical attention. The prosecution alleged that the suspects then threatened the detainee not to complain.
The soldiers’ defense team objected in court on Thursday to the extension of the defendants’ house arrests, with attorney Ephraim Demari arguing, “Any danger [the defendants] pose is only to [Hamas] terrorists, and that can be eliminated by keeping them away from any base, and certainly from Sde Teiman,” according to Maariv.
Throughout the Israel-Hamas war, Sde Teiman has been used to hold more than 1,000 detainees from Gaza who were suspected of terrorist activity. The vast majority were suspected of taking part in Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel, in which terrorists murdered some 1,200 people and took 251 hostages.
Terror operatives and other suspects are generally initially held in detention facilities at the IDF’s Sde Teiman, Anatot and Ofer bases, before being handed over to the Israel Prison Service. The detainees can legally be held for 45 days before they must be either released or moved into the care of the IPS.
The IDF announced in May that it was investigating suspicions of abuse and torture of detainees in Sde Teiman following reports that the prisoners were being severely mistreated.
The reports alleged widespread abuse of prisoners, including extreme use of physical restraints, beatings, neglect of medical problems, arbitrary punishments, and more.
