The Israeli military said Monday that nine soldiers were being held in a case of suspected abuse of a detainee at a facility known to be holding Palestinians arrested from Gaza during the war.
Israeli civilians protested outside a military base where the nine soldiers were being held, while several others, also in an attempt to show support, broke into a detention facility where the alleged abuse occurred.
A military spokesman confirmed to AFP that nine soldiers “were taken for questioning” in the case and were being held.
The military said it has opened an investigation into the “suspected abuse” of a detainee at the Sde Teiman base set up for holding Palestinians arrested in Gaza since the war broke out.
After fighting between Hamas militants and Israeli forces began in Gaza, United Nations agencies, rights advocates, officials in the Palestinian territory, and ex-prisoners interviewed by AFP have all alleged abuses during detention.
Israel’s military has said its detention conditions are in line with international law.
Israeli media reported that the detainee was a Palestinian who had allegedly been abused by some Israeli soldiers at the facility.
Several Israelis, on hearing of the soldiers’ detention, rushed towards Sde Teiman in a sign of support, with some even managing to break into it, live footage broadcast by Israeli television networks showed.
Television footage also showed some other Israeli civilians protesting outside the military base where the soldiers were being questioned.
Condemnation
Top Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and army chief Lieutenant-General Herzi Halevi, condemned the mob action.
The Sde Teiman facility was set up to detain Palestinians arrested in the Gaza Strip soon after the war there began on October 7 following the attack by Hamas on southern Israel.
Amnesty International this month called on Israel to end the indefinite detention of Gaza Palestinians and what it called “rampant torture” in its prisons.
Amnesty said it had documented 27 cases of Palestinians, including five women and a 14-year-old boy, who were detained “for up to four and a half months” without being able to contact their families.
With AFP
