Investigation into soldiers over alleged sexual abuse fuels tensions between Israeli military and hardliners

JERUSALEM — An Israeli military court began an initial hearing Tuesday for nine soldiers held on what a defense lawyer described as allegations of sexually abusing a Palestinian at a shadowy facility where Israel held Gaza prisoners during the war.

The investigation has fueled tensions between the military leadership and radical nationalists in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, who are calling for an even tougher approach to Israel’s actions during the 10-month war in Gaza.

The soldiers’ arrest on Monday sparked angry protests from supporters demanding their release, including lawmakers and at least two government ministers. On Monday, hundreds of protesters broke into the facility in southern Israel, known as Sde Teiman, and later the military base where the soldiers were being held. Video footage showed them fighting with troops before being forced out.

Defense attorney Nati Rom, who represents three of the soldiers, said they were innocent and described the alleged abuse they are accused of as “acts of sodomy.” The military has not provided details about the investigation, saying only that it is looking into allegations of “substantial abuse.”

Research by the Associated Press news agency and reports from human rights organizations reveal appalling conditions and abuses in Sde Teiman, the military base where most of the thousands of people imprisoned during the war in Gaza are being held.

In a report released in April, the main U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said Palestinians released from detention and returned to Gaza reported cases in which detainees were forced to strip naked, had their photographs taken and were beaten while naked. The report did not specify in which facility the detainees were being held.

One prisoner said he was forced to sit on an electric probe that burned his anus. They also reported beatings with iron bars, rifle butts and boots, UNRWA said, adding that many of the returned prisoners had to be hospitalized with injuries or illness.

In addition to the alleged abuse now under investigation, Israeli authorities generally deny that any abuse occurs in detention facilities for Palestinians.

The military court is expected to decide Tuesday afternoon at the Beit Lid base in central Israel whether to extend the soldiers’ detention, raising the possibility of new protests.

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who condemned the protesters’ break-ins at the sites, demanded an investigation into whether National Security hardliner Itamar Ben-Gvir “prevented or delayed the police response to the riots.”

He said the lack of police presence forced the army to send troops to the bases to disperse the protesters. In a letter to Netanyahu, he called on him to “take tough action against the coalition members who participated in the riots.”

Ben-Gvir, whose ministry is responsible for the police, responded with his own letter to Netanyahu, saying that accusations that he had delayed the police response to the riots were unfounded.

On Monday, Ben-Gvir condemned the soldiers’ detention as “disgraceful” and called them “our best heroes.” Referring to conditions in the detention facilities, he said that “summer camps and patience for terrorists are over.”

Defense attorney Rom said the incident under investigation took place a month ago in Sde Teiman. He said the prisoner attacked officers during a search, and that the soldiers “used force but did not do anything sexual.” He said the prisoner was a high-ranking Hamas militant.

His account of the incident or the identity of the prisoner could not be independently confirmed. Rom works for Honenu, a nationalist legal group that specializes in defending Israeli soldiers and civilians prosecuted for incidents of violence against Palestinians.

Israel has held thousands of Palestinians since the October 7 Hamas attack that sparked the Gaza war, according to official figures, though hundreds were released after the military determined they were not affiliated with Hamas. Israeli human rights groups say the majority of Gaza detainees have passed through Sde Teiman at some point.

Israel has long been accused of failing to hold its soldiers accountable for crimes committed against Palestinians. The accusations have intensified during the war in Gaza. Israel says its forces act within military and international law and says it conducts independent investigations into alleged abuses.

In an unrelated case, the army said Tuesday that prosecutors had filed charges against a reserve soldier accused of using “serious violence” against Palestinian prisoners he was assigned to guard, allegedly beating them repeatedly with a baton or his own weapon. He allegedly filmed the beatings, the army said.

Military chief Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi condemned the protesters’ break-ins and said he fully supports the military prosecutors’ investigation. “It is precisely these investigations that protect our soldiers in Israel and the world and preserve the values ​​of the army,” he said.

The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel said it welcomed the military’s investigation but said the allegations related to systematic abuse at the facility and not just one case.

In Gaza, aid workers recovered the bodies of 22 Palestinians found dead in the eastern part of the city of Khan Younis after Israeli troops withdrew from the area following a weeks-long offensive, hospital officials said.

It is not clear when they were killed, but workers have repeatedly found bodies in the rubble or on the streets after Israeli offensives around Gaza.

Another seven people were killed by Israeli airstrikes in Khan Younis late Monday night and early Tuesday morning, officials at Nasser Hospital, where all the bodies were taken, said.

The Israeli military launched its assault on the southern city earlier in July, three months after a long offensive there. The army said Tuesday that its forces had completed operations in Khan Younis, where it reportedly killed dozens of Hamas militants and destroyed tunnels and other Hamas infrastructure.

Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas after the Oct. 7 attacks, in which militants killed about 1,200 people and kidnapped 250 others. About 110 hostages remain in Gaza, with about a third believed dead.

According to the Gaza Ministry of Health, Israel has killed more than 39,363 Palestinians and wounded more than 90,900 during the campaign. The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count.

AP correspondent Samy Magdy in Cairo contributed to this report.