Photo Credit: IDF Spokesperson's Unit
The Sde Teiman detention center in February 2021.

Reserves soldiers posted at the Negev Sde Teiman detention facility for Hamas Nukhba prisoners captured on and after October 7, 2023, fought off masked agents of the Investigating Military Police who raided the base following abuse complaints from one Hamas prisoner. Some of the soldiers tried to escape and others threatened to barricade themselves. Several soldiers were detained for questioning.

The IDF spokesperson stated in response: “Due to suspicion of serious abuse of a detainee who was held in the detention facility in Sade Teiman, an investigation by the military police was launched by order of the military attorney’s office.”

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Ten reservists are suspected of seriously abusing the terrorist, who was evacuated from the center in serious condition with rectal injuries. The fighters refused to cooperate with the investigators and clashed with the MPs who confiscated their weapons and phones.

According to the reservists, the military police have been persecuting them for several months, following probes into the conditions at the Sde Teiman detention facility. At this point the military police are yet to share direct evidence of abuse, relying on the complaint of the terrorist who was rushed to the hospital with a serious injury to his buttock. It appears that the MPs believe there was a group abuse of the terrorist.

One social media channel claims that a prisoner was abused, but that he was abused by the other Nuhkba terrorist, and he then reported that it was done by soldiers.

Elisha Yered identified the terrorist as a senior terrorist from Jabalya in Gaza. Last month the terrorist was part of an prisoner rebellion and attacked and bit a soldier.

The impetus for Monday’s raid was, more likely than not, a report in the Washington Post (Palestinians recount deadly abuse in Israeli prisons: ‘It is Guantanamo’). The report claimed “One Palestinian inmate died with a ruptured spleen and broken ribs after being beaten by Israeli prison guards. Another met an excruciating end because a chronic condition went untreated. A third screamed for help for hours before dying.” The report covered mostly Israeli permanent security prisons, noting that “while international attention and condemnation has focused on the plight of Gazan detainees — specifically at the notorious Sde Teiman military site — rights advocates say there is a deeper, systemic crisis in Israel’s penal system.”

The Sde Teiman facility was established shortly after the start of the October 7 war and was intended to receive Hamas members until they were transferred to prisons. Before the state began transferring the detainees from the facility, about 700 terrorists were held in Seda Teiman; Three of them were hospitalized in a medical facility operating nearby. In December, Haaretz reported that the detainees in the facility are kept in fenced compounds, their eyes are covered and their hands are cuffed for most of the day, and that in their prison compounds, the lights are on all night long.

According to data published by the army, the IDF is conducting a criminal investigation against soldiers concerning 48 deaths of Gaza Arabs, most of them captured in the Gaza Strip, 36 of them detained in Sde Teiman.

National Security Minister and Otzma Yehudit Chairman Itamar Ben Gvir said in a statement: “The spectacle of military police officers coming to arrest our best heroes in Sde Teiman is nothing less than shameful. I recommend the Defense Minister, the Chief of Staff, and the army authorities to back the fighters and heed the example of the prison service: the summer camps and our patience for the terrorists are over. Fighters should get a full backing.”

In a video from the detention facility that was circulated on social media, one of the soldiers is heard exclaiming: “Let’s unite against this thing where the IDF fighting our soldiers.” Another soldier said: “The military police came to arrest us because we are responsible for the Nukhba terrorists. People of Israel, take to the streets for us, I’m not ready for this shame of being arrested – I gave my life for you, for the people of Israel.”

Otzma Yehudit ministers and MKs and hundreds of Israeli protesters made their way to the Sde Teiman facility, many forcing their way onto the base, demanding to stop the disgrace of the arrest of IDF soldiers there.

Statement by Defense Minister Yoav Gallant released a statement,

“IDF troops in both mandatory service and reserve duty have been fighting fiercely over the past nine months, in the most just war since the establishment of our State.

“I commend our troops who carry out complex and important missions in the prison service, as those relate to the imprisonment of Hamas terrorists – vile terrorists whom we will bring to justice.

“The IDF will continue operating in accordance with the law.

“We must enable professional authorities to carry out the necessary assessments, while ensuring the dignity and respect of our soldiers.

“Even in difficult times, the law applies to everyone – nobody may trespass into IDF bases or violate the laws of the State of Israel.”

The reservists who were arrested by the military police belong to a unit known as Force 100 which was re-established at the beginning of the war and is responsible for guarding the detainees in Sde Teiman.

The lawyer for one of the soldiers spoke with Channel 14 about the charges, which he described as spurious, and provided more details into who the terrorist is.

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David Israel
David writes news at JewishPress.com.

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