The Israeli military dropped charges against soldiers accused of sexually abusing and torturing a Palestinian prisoner
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The Israeli military said on Thursday it was dropping charges against five soldiers accused of sexually abusing a Palestinian prisoner in an incident caught on camera.
The ruling closed a case that had bitterly divided the country since the 2024 arrest by soldiers at the notorious Sde Teiman military prison, which drew the ire of right-wing government members and ultranationalists who stormed the prison in violent protest.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu applauded Thursday’s announcement, while human rights groups accused the military of instigating one of the worst cases of torture at a chain of military prisons in the country.
Sde Teiman was appointed after October 7, 2023, to hold Palestinians gathered in Gaza during Israel’s war with the terrorist group Hamas. The underground facility quickly gained notoriety as workers and Palestinians who had been released from detention described scenes of abuse and torture.
Those allegations have intensified after Israeli media broadcast a leaked video that appears to show soldiers sexually abusing a Palestinian prisoner.
The soldiers are accused of dragging the Palestinian to the ground, stabbing him and sexually assaulting him by stabbing him in the hole, injuring dozens, according to the lawsuit. At that time, the deceased’s hands and ankles were tied and his eyes were blindfolded.
He was taken to an Israeli hospital with broken ribs and severe trauma to his abdomen and chest and underwent laparoscopic surgery before being returned to prison.
The abuse has gotten worse: a lawyer
The military said the charges were dropped because the video did not show enough violence to warrant a criminal conviction and was improperly leaked to the media. The decision added that the victim has since been released and returned to Gaza, creating “no certainty” that he will be able to testify at his trial.
“Israel’s military attorney recently gave its soldiers permission to rape – as long as the victim is Palestinian,” said Sari Bashi, executive director of the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel.
He said the decision was “just the latest in a series of increasingly serious inmate abuses since October 7, 2023.”
Fadi Bakr says he was looking for food for his family in Khan Younis in January when he was caught in a battle between Hamas terrorists and the IDF. He says he was shot and eventually arrested by IDF soldiers, accusing him of being a member of the Hamas group, although he denies it.
Netanyahu criticized the investigation, saying “the state of Israel must go after its enemies, not its heroes.”
This case cost the top law enforcement officer when the military arrested his job.
In November 2025, the Advocate General of the Army Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi admitted that he had authorized the leaking of a video showing the alleged torture. Faced with turmoil in Netanyahu’s government, he suddenly resigned and then disappeared, found without a phone on a Tel Aviv beach after a search by authorities.
The phone, believed to contain incriminating evidence, was also found at sea.
The Association for Civil Rights in Israel, argues that Dear TeimanAfter the closure, it is alleged that inmates at the facility were subjected to severe violence, including attack dogs and sexual abuse; made to sit down blindfolded and handcuffed 24 hours a day; forbidden to move or talk and rarely to bathe or change clothes.
Israel has long been accused of failing to hold its soldiers accountable for crimes committed by the Palestinians. These suspicions intensified during the war in Gaza. Israel says its forces operate within military and international law and thoroughly investigates any suspected abuses.
The Associated Press investigated allegations of ill-treatment and abuse at Sde Teiman prior to the surveillance video.
