IDF establishes committee to examine treatment of detained Palestinian terror suspects

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi has appointed an “advisory committee” to examine the conditions of Palestinian prisoners detained amid the war in the Gaza Strip, following allegations of torture and mistreatment.

The terror operatives and other suspects are initially held in detention facilities at the IDF’s Sde Teiman, Anatot, and Ofer bases, before being handed over to the Israel Prison Service.

Earlier this month, a CNN report detailed alleged widespread abuse of detainees, including extreme use of physical restraints, beatings, neglect of medical problems, arbitrary punishments and more, citing two Israeli whistleblowers and a Palestinian doctor who had been held in the Sde Teiman facility.

The IDF says that because of the “unprecedented number of detainees” and a shortage of space in IPS jails, many prisoners are kept in IDF facilities for “longer periods than expected,” and as such “allegations were made regarding the conditions of detention in the prison facilities.”

The panel, headed by former military advocate general Maj. Gen. (res.) Ilan Schiff, will evaluate the detention conditions and “their compliance with the law and the rules of international law,” and will submit its recommendations to Halevi within three weeks, the IDF says.