Israel’s military has dropped all charges against five soldiers accused of sexually abusing a Palestinian detainee from Gaza at Sde Teiman military prison in July 2024.
The detainee suffered severe injuries, including cracked ribs, a punctured lung, and an inner rectal tear, after an alleged attack partially captured on CCTV. The soldiers faced charges of aggravated abuse and causing serious bodily harm, which they denied.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the indictments were withdrawn due to “exceptional circumstances” that complicated prosecution while preserving the right to a fair trial for the defendants. These included complex evidence, difficulties transferring investigative material, and conduct by senior officials in the Military Advocate General’s Corps. Additionally, the detainee had already been released and returned to Gaza.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the decision, describing it as the end of what he called a “blood libel,” and defended the soldiers as “heroic fighters.”
However, human rights activists strongly condemned the move. Sari Bashi, executive director of the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel, called it a “whitewash” and accused the military of giving soldiers a license to commit sexual abuse against Palestinians with impunity.
The case gained international attention after leaked CCTV footage surfaced in August 2024, showing soldiers allegedly pushing the detainee against a wall and stabbing him with a sharp object. The leak, authorised by the then-Military Advocate General Maj Gen Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, led to her resignation and arrest. She claimed the leak was intended to counter what she described as false propaganda against the army’s law enforcement.
Her successor, Maj Gen Itai Ofir, announced on Thursday that all charges had been dropped “in light of significant developments.”
The IDF said lessons would be drawn from the case, with steps taken to prevent similar incidents in the future, as instructed by the Chief of the General Staff, Lt Gen Eyal Zamir.
The United Nations Committee Against Torture has previously expressed deep concern about what it described as a “de facto state policy of organised and widespread torture and ill treatment” of Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons, particularly after the 7 October 2023 Hamas-led attacks.
Israel’s government has rejected claims of systemic abuse, maintaining that it is fully committed to international legal standards.
