Torture, abuse, unfit conditions: The allegations over Sde Teiman and its guards
Military prosecutors are investigating multiple allegations made by whistleblowers and former detainees of mistreatment of inmates at southern facility amid Gaza war
Jeremy Sharon is The Times of Israel’s legal affairs and settlements reporter
Anarchic scenes at the Sde Teiman military base and the Beit Lid military court on Monday night rocked Israel and once again opened up deep societal wounds and schisms over the rule of law, judicial authority and the justice system.
The chaos was the result of the arrest of nine reserve soldiers at Sde Teiman suspected of serious abuse of a Palestinian detainee. Dozens of right-wing and ultranationalist protesters, including MKs and even government ministers, first broke into Sde Teiman after the arrests and then broke into Beit Lid, where they were being held, in an effort to halt the legal proceedings against them.
But what are the allegations surrounding the Sde Teiman facility, and what are IDF guards who allegedly violated the law suspected of?
Detention facility for Gazan suspects
Sde Teiman is a military base located west of Beersheba. A detention facility was set up at the base on the night of October 7, 2023 after the Hamas invasion and massacres in southern Israel, as a preliminary holding center for terrorists caught by security forces inside the country.
The facility was originally intended to be used as an initial processing center for terror suspects before they would be transferred to permanent prisons, but due to the large number of Palestinians captured during the war and overcrowding in Israeli prisons, terror suspects remained held at Sde Teiman for long periods of time.
Palestinian combatants captured in Gaza, as well as others suspected of terrorist activity, were also sent to Sde Teiman over the course of the conflict that broke out following Hamas’s October 7 attacks.
It is unclear how many detainees have been held in the facility since it was opened. In a June statement to the High Court of Justice, the state said there were 700 detainees at that time.
Since then, however, the vast majority were to have been transferred to other prisons.
What are the allegations surrounding Sde Teiman?
On May 11, CNN published an investigative report based on testimony of three Israeli whistleblowers who had been at Sde Temian, as well as from former detainees, claiming widespread abuse of the detainees, including extreme use of physical restraints, amputations due to prolonged use of handcuffs, beatings, neglect of medical problems, arbitrary punishments, and humiliating and degrading treatment such as denial of toilet use.
Further revelations in prosecutors’ documents have detailed specific incidents of beatings by Sde Teiman guards, including the use of clubs, rifle barrels, fists and elbows, as well as humiliation of detainees with threats of violence if they did not comply with the demands to degrade themselves.
A UN report released on Tuesday also detailed allegations of electric shocks, waterboarding, burning with cigarettes, the use of stress positions against detainees, prolonged blindfolding, prolonged deprivation of food and water, and sleep deprivation.
The Military Advocate General’s Office is also reportedly investigating 35 incidents in which Palestinian detainees have died in Israeli custody, although it is unclear where exactly those incidents occurred.
Who are the detainees?
Israel has detained thousands of Palestinians since the Hamas invasion and massacres on October 7, including terrorists caught in Israel following the assault, combatants caught in Gaza during the IDF’s operations, as well as others suspected of connections to terror organizations or terrorist activity.
The UN has alleged that some of the prisoners are detained for “screening purposes” or intelligence gathering.
Many of the unlawful combatants from Gaza were taken to Sde Teiman, but have also been incarcerated in other detention facilities in Israel, especially following a government decision to severely limit the number of detainees at the facility.
Thousands of Palestinians have also been detained in the West Bank, although it is unclear if any such detainees have been taken to Sde Teiman.
The unlawful combatants from Gaza are detained under the terms of Israel’s 2002 Law for Unlawful Combatants or through criminal arrest warrants, the government told the High Court of Justice in legal proceedings regarding such detainees.
According to the Hamoked organization which provides Palestinians with legal aid, as of July Israel was holding a total of 9,623 Palestinian security prisoners of different categories in its various facilities, including 1,402 unlawful combatants; 2,783 remand detainees who are under investigation or awaiting trial; 3,379 administrative detainees, held without trial for six-month periods which can be renewed with court approval; and 2,059 convicted prisoners.
Who are the guards at Sde Teiman?
The guards at Sde Teiman appear to largely be IDF reservists serving with Military Police units designated to holding enemy captives, a function the Military Police assumes in times of emergency.
There are, however, indications that some IDF regular conscripts have also served at the facility.
The Force 100 unit, eight members of which are suspected of sexually abusing one detainee (one has been released), is a prison riot control unit of the Military Police which also deals with transfers of security prisoners between different detention facilities.
Other officials who may be liable to prosecution include commanders and administrators of military bases where detention facilities are located, and potentially Shin Bet investigators involved in abusive interrogations.
Legal proceedings against abuse suspects
Following the CNN revelations and a petition filed to the High Court of Justice demanding the closure of Sde Teiman, the IDF’s Military Advocate General Maj. Gen. Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi announced on May 27 that her office had opened 70 investigations into allegations of criminal violations during the course of the current war, including into the allegations surrounding abuse and torture at Sde Teiman.
In the incident on Monday which prompted the right-wing riots, Military Police officers arrived at Sde Teiman to detain nine soldiers belonging to the Force 100 unit for the alleged violent sexual abuse of a detainee during his transfer to Sde Teiman approximately one month ago.
According to the IDF, the soldiers were 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.
And on Tuesday, the Military Advocate General’s office filed an indictment against a reservist soldier who had served as a guard at Sde Teiman for aggravated assault and conduct unbecoming a soldier during the transfer of detainees to and from the detention center.
The indictment charged the suspect with five incidents of beating detainees on several occasions between February and June 2024 with a club or with his gun while their hands and feet were bound and their eyes blindfolded. He was also accused of various humiliating acts.
The beatings were carried out in front of other guards, and at least one occasion other guards participated in the beatings themselves, although their identities are not known to the Military Advocate General’s Office.
The suspect, along with other guards, videoed the beatings and abuse on his mobile phone on several occasions.
Criminal liability
Israel’s Military Jurisdiction Law of 1955 prohibits soldiers from assaulting individuals who have come under their control. Those found guilty of violating the law are subject to a three year prison sentence under normal circumstances and a seven year sentence if the violations were committed under “aggravated circumstances.”
All soldiers, including reservists, suspected of abuse will likely be tried in military courts, although the possibility exists of transferring jurisdiction to the civilian criminal justice system.
Dr. Tal Mimran, a lecturer in international law at Zefat Academic College in Safed and the director of a digital human rights program at the Tachlit think tank, said the Military Advocate General’s office would likely want to demonstrate that it is willing to prosecute IDF soldiers who violate the law, due to the ramifications of such alleged violations to Israel’s standing under international law.
The regulations for the 2002 Law for Unlawful Combatants clearly stipulate that prisoners be provided with food, be held in hygienic conditions, receive appropriate medical treatment, and have adequate sleeping arrangements. The law also stipulates that detainees be given access to Red Cross visits within three months and access to a lawyer after a maximum of 21 days.
Israel is also signatory to international treaties banning the use of torture and prohibiting degrading treatment, Mimran pointed out.
One of those treaties is the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1966, and ratified by Israel in 1991, which states that “No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”
And Israel ratified the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (UNCAT) in 1991, which similarly bans such practices.
Torture is also considered a war crime under customary international humanitarian law, as defined by the International Committee of the Red Cross, and under the Rome Statute, the founding document of the International Criminal Court in The Hague which prosecutes senior officials suspected of war crimes.
High Court petitions
Following the revelations by CNN, Israeli human rights groups, including the Association for Civil Rights in Israel and others, filed a petition to the High Court of Justice asking that it order the government to shut Sde Teiman down, describing it as a “lawless black hole.”
In response to the petition, the state committed to the court in a hearing on June 5 to transfer all detainees out of the detention center.
On July 11 Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a directive in a Security Cabinet meeting for the Israel Prison Service and the IDF to find “an immediate solution” for the transfer of all Sde Teiman prisoners who have been at the facility for more than 14 days to permanent detention facilities.
The High Court issued a provisional order on July 15 demanding the government explain why the operation of the facility should not be conditioned on “compliance with the conditions set forth in the law on the imprisonment of illegal combatants.”
A second court hearing is scheduled for August 7.
A separate petition filed by Hamoked, together with ACRI and others, asked the High Court to order the government to grant Palestinian detainees access to Red Cross visits for all categories of Palestinian prisoners, after the government halted such visits following the October 7 attack, in light of Hamas’s refusal to allow the Red Cross to visit hostages held in Gaza.
A court hearing for that petition is scheduled for August 4.
