The Israeli military is investigating nine of its own soldiers over reports they abused detainees at a detention facility in southern Israel.
In an emailed statement, the Israeli military said it was looking into allegations of “substantial abuse” at Sde Teiman, Israel’s largest prison detention facility. The emailed statement went on to state the Israeli Military Advocate General’s Corps ordered the Israeli Military Police Criminal Investigation Division to investigate allegations of abuse against one detainee.
The Israeli military said it detained nine suspects for questioning on July 29, but provided few additional details about the abuse allegations.
Nati Rom, an attorney representing some of the detained soldiers, told The New York Times that the arrests followed allegations several soldiers had sexually abused a Palestinian detainee at the facility. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) has shared some accounts of soldiers at Sde Teiman shoving sticks and hot objects inside at least one male detainee’s anus as a form of torture. UNRWA also shared accounts of Israeli soldiers stripping Palestinian women of their religious garments, pouring pepper on their genitalia, and pinching their breasts.
Rom denied the allegations against his clients.
The efforts to arrest the nine soldiers set off a confrontation, as local Israeli citizens attempted to enter the detention center and disrupt military police carrying out the arrests.
“The incident of breaking into the Sde Teiman base is extremely serious and against the law. Breaking into a military base and disturbing the order there is serious behavior that is not acceptable in any way,” Israeli military Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said. “We are at war, and actions of this kind endanger the security of the country.”
Halevi signaled his full support for military authorities investigating the abuse allegations.
“It is precisely these investigations that protect our soldiers in Israel and around the world and preserve the values of the [Israel Defense Forces],” Halevi said.
The detained Israeli soldiers were taken from Sde Teiman to the Beit Lid military base following their arrests. Activists again breached that second Israeli military facility on Monday, in an apparent protest of the arrests.
Israeli forces dispatched additional troops to Beit Lid to put a stop to the breach. Halevi issued another statement of condemnation on Monday.
“The arrival of rioters and attempts to break into the bases are serious behavior against the law, bordering on anarchy, harming the IDF, the security of the state and the war effort,” the Israeli military leader said.
Times of Israel military correspondent Emanuel Fabian reported, citing Israeli military officials, that the breaches at the Israeli military facilities have disrupted plans for Israeli forces to conduct strikes in Lebanon.
This article was originally published by FreeBase News and is reprinted with permission.
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