Israeli military chief Eyal Zamir has authorized five soldiers accused of sexually assaulting a Palestinian inmate in the notorious Sde Teiman detention camp to return to reserve service after charges against them were dropped, according to Israeli media reports. The soldiers, all from the Force 100 unit assigned to guard military prisons, are being reinstated despite an ongoing, internal military inquiry into their conduct, raising serious questions about accountability within the Israeli military justice system.
Israeli Army Radio reported that some of the reservists have already returned to active duty, including deployment to combat roles, following the dismissal of charges last month. An Israeli army statement, cited by Haaretz newspaper, claimed that "the investigation does not prevent them from continuing to serve... the command-level investigation will be completed as soon as possible," a move that critics argue undermines efforts to address alleged abuses in detention facilities.
The reinstatement comes after Israel’s top military lawyer, Itay Offir, dropped all charges against the soldiers, closing a case that had been among the most divisive in Israel’s recent history. The soldiers had been charged with aggravated assault and causing severe injury, after footage broadcast by Israeli television showed them abusing a Palestinian man in Sde Teiman. The military’s own indictment described soldiers stabbing the detainee with a sharp object near his rectum, causing cracked ribs, a punctured lung, and an internal tear, details that highlight the severity of the alleged incident.
Offir purportedly stated that the indictments were scrapped partly because of "complexities in the evidentiary structure" and "difficulties" arising from the detainee’s release to the Gaza Strip, a justification that rights groups have dismissed as inadequate. A doctor at the facility, Yoel Donchin, told Haaretz he was so shocked by the Palestinian inmate’s condition that he initially assumed it was the work of a rival armed group, underscoring the brutality described in reports.
Rights groups condemned the decision as a legal injustice, with Amnesty International calling it "yet another unconscionable chapter in the Israeli legal system’s long-standing history of granting impunity to perpetrators of grave crimes against Palestinians." In a statement, the group noted, "Since the start of Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in the occupied Gaza Strip, and despite overwhelming evidence of widespread torture and abuse, including sexual violence, against Palestinians in Israeli detention centers, only one Israeli soldier has so far been sentenced over torturing a Palestinian detainee," pointing to systemic issues in enforcement.
Palestinians released from Israeli detention have reported suffering widespread abuse while in custody, with a February report by the Committee to Protect Journalists citing dozens of formerly detained Palestinian journalists describing "routine beatings, starvation and sexual assault" in Israeli custody. These accounts align with broader allegations of mistreatment, casting further doubt on the effectiveness of internal investigations and the commitment to human rights standards by the Israeli regime.
Source: www.aljazeera.com