Dropping Sde Teiman case on rape of Palestinian detainee: declaration of Israel’s policy of impunity
Screenshot from a leaked video of Sde Teiman prison documenting the rape of a Palestinian detainee.
Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor reports on 13 March 2026:
The dismissal of charges against five Israeli soldiers implicated in the rape and torture of a Palestinian detainee from Gaza in Sde Teiman prison constitutes further evidence of the structural and deliberate collapse of Israel’s justice and accountability system. It confirms the state’s active involvement in shielding perpetrators from accountability instead of prosecuting them, representing yet another practical declaration of Israel’s adoption of a policy of impunity for crimes committed against Palestinians.
The dropping of the indictment does not negate the crime or exonerate those involved; it underscores the systemic complicity of Israel’s judicial system with military, security, and political authorities. It reveals that crimes committed against Palestinians are not treated as violations warranting truth and redress, but rather as acts that legal mechanisms can shield, allowing perpetrators to evade genuine accountability, even in the most serious and well-documented offenses.
On 5 July 2024, five Israeli soldiers at Sde Teiman prison in the Negev Desert brutally assaulted a handcuffed, blindfolded Palestinian detainee from Gaza. This included raping him with a sharp object inserted into his anus, resulting in broken ribs, a punctured lung, and internal rectal tears.
These acts constitute grave violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law, documented on video and later leaked by Israeli sources. Leaked surveillance footage shows soldiers escorting the detainee to one side of the room, surrounding him, one carrying a dog, and deliberately using riot equipment to obscure their actions.
Statements by a Knesset member declaring the insertion of a stick into a Palestinian detainee’s anus as “completely lawful” illustrate the moral and political collapse surrounding the case. The detainee, later released, continues to suffer severe physical and psychological effects from the torture and sexual violence he endured, living in constant fear of renewed abuse or targeting by Israeli authorities.
Israel’s authorities have focused on prosecuting the leak of the video rather than conducting a serious investigation into this documented crime. The former military attorney general, Major General Yifat Tomer Yerushalmi, resigned in October 2025 after admitting to authorising part of the video’s release to the media under political pressure and disinformation campaigns that sought to undermine the investigation.
Political endorsement of the case dismissal, including statements by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and right-wing figures calling the soldiers “heroes,” demonstrates that the issue extends beyond judicial failure to a deliberate political will to reframe criminal acts as national duty. This transforms a crime requiring condemnation and accountability into one celebrated as patriotic.
The indictment was dismissed on procedural grounds, citing alleged evidentiary complications, the detainee’s return to Gaza, and claims of “justice defense” regarding the accused’s right to a fair trial. These justifications do not negate the crime itself nor the available evidence, which includes surveillance footage, medical documentation, and conclusions from treating Israeli doctors, all providing sufficient independent proof of the crime.
Israel’s use of procedural excuses, including the detainee’s transfer to Gaza, represents additional proof of the authorities’ failure to preserve evidence, protect witnesses, and fulfil their obligation to conduct an effective and serious investigation. Claims of fair trial rights for the accused do not absolve the state of its primary duty to investigate torture, sexual violence, and cruel treatment and hold perpetrators accountable.
Victims are not limited to alleged “elite terrorists”; they include civilians, journalists, and medical personnel. International law protections against torture, sexual assault, and cruel treatment are absolute and cannot be suspended based on detainee status or alleged activities. Attempts to justify shielding soldiers by framing detainees as “brutal monsters” are propagandistic and deny victims their basic legal guarantees.
This case cannot be seen as an isolated incident. It must be understood within a broader pattern of systematic, documented violations against Palestinian prisoners, including physical and psychological torture, sexual violence, humiliation, stripping, electric shocks, genital assaults, use of dogs, denial of medical care, and other forms of inhumane and degrading treatment, documented by the Independent International Commission of Inquiry, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and other Israeli and international human rights organisations.