On Thursday, the Israeli military announced it would be dropping charges against five soldiers alleged to have sexually assaulted a Palestinian detainee in an incident that was partially recorded on video.
This decision has concluded a case that has sharply polarized the nation since the soldiers’ arrests at the infamous Sde Teiman military prison in 2024, inciting outrage from far-right government officials and ultranationalists who violently stormed the prison in protest.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the announcement made on Thursday, while human rights organizations condemned the military for allegedly covering up one of the most serious instances of abuse within the country’s wartime prison system.
Sde Teiman was established following the events of October 7, 2023, to detain Palestinians captured in Gaza during Israel’s conflict with the Hamas militant organization. The secretive facility quickly earned a reputation for abuse, with accounts from former detainees and staff detailing instances of mistreatment and torture.
The allegations intensified after Israeli news outlets aired a leaked video that seemingly depicted soldiers assaulting a Palestinian prisoner.
The soldiers were charged with dragging the Palestinian along the ground, using a taser on him, and sexually assaulting him by inflicting injuries through stabbing him in the rectum while he was handcuffed and blindfolded.
After the ordeal, he was transported to an Israeli hospital, where he was treated for fractured ribs and blunt force injuries to his abdomen and chest, undergoing surgery for a perforated rectum prior to being returned to the prison.
Abuses have worsened: advocate
The military stated that the charges were dismissed because the video did not depict violence severe enough to warrant a criminal conviction and claimed the footage had been improperly leaked to the press. They also noted that the victim had been released back to Gaza, leading to uncertainty regarding his ability to testify in any potential trial.
“The military advocate general of Israel has effectively granted a license to soldiers to commit sexual violence as long as the victim is Palestinian,” remarked Sari Bashi, executive director of the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel.
She asserted that this decision is “the latest in a series of actions that overlook the abuses inflicted on detainees, which have escalated in frequency and severity since October 7, 2023.”
Fadi Bakr shares that he was searching for food for his family in Khan Younis when he became caught in the crossfire between Hamas militants and the IDF. He claims he was shot and subsequently arrested by IDF forces, who suspected him of being affiliated with Hamas despite his protests of innocence.
Netanyahu criticized the investigation, asserting that “the state of Israel ought to go after its adversaries, not its courageous soldiers.”
This case resulted in the resignation of the military’s top legal official at the time of the soldiers’ arrests.
In November 2025, Military Advocate General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi acknowledged that she had approved the release of the video depicting the alleged abuse. Confronted with backlash from Netanyahu’s administration, she resigned abruptly and vanished, later being discovered without her phone on a beach in Tel Aviv after a frantic search by authorities.
The phone, believed to contain critical evidence against her, was eventually recovered from the sea.
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The Association for Civil Rights in Israel, advocating for the closure of Sde Teiman, has alleged that detainees at the facility face severe violence, including attacks by dogs and sexual assault; they are made to sit on the ground blindfolded and restrained for 24 hours a day, prohibited from moving or speaking, and rarely given opportunities to shower or change their clothing.
Israel has faced long-standing accusations of not adequately holding its soldiers accountable for crimes against Palestinians. These allegations have intensified amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza. Israel maintains that its military operations comply with both military and international law and that it conducts thorough investigations into any claims of misconduct.
The Associated Press conducted an inquiry into claims of inhumane treatment and mistreatment at Sde Teiman prior to the emergence of the surveillance video.