Probe of soldiers over alleged sexual abuse fuels tension between Israeli military and hard-liners

JERUSALEM (AP) — An Israeli military court opened an initial hearing Tuesday for nine soldiers detained over what a defense lawyer said were allegations of sexual abuse of a Palestinian at a shadowy facility where Israel has held prisoners from Gaza during the war.

The investigation has stoked tensions between the military command and hard-line nationalists in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government who advocate an even harsher hand in Israel’s conduct of the 10-month-old war in Gaza.

The soldiers’ detention Monday triggered angry protests by supporters demanding their release, including members of parliament and at least two government ministers. On Monday, several hundred protesters broke into the facility in southern Israel, known as Sde Teiman, and then later into the military base where the soldiers were being held. Video showed them scuffling with troops before being forced out.

Defense lawyer Nati Rom, who is representing three of the soldiers, said they were innocent and described the alleged abuse they are accused of committing as “acts of sodomy.” The military has given no details on the investigation, saying only it was looking into allegations of “substantial abuse.”

An investigation by The Associated Press and reports by rights groups have exposed abysmal conditions and abuses at Sde Teiman, the military base where most of the thousands detained in Gaza during the war have been held.

In a report issued in April, the main U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said Palestinians released from detention and sent back to Gaza reported instances of prisoners being forced to strip naked, of photos taken of them naked and of beatings on the genitals. The report did not specify the facility where the detainees were held.

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

Beyond the alleged abuse now being investigated, Israeli authorities have generally denied abuses in detention facilities for Palestinians.

The military court hearing Tuesday afternoon at the Beit Lid base in central Israel was expected to rule on whether to extend the soldiers’ detention. By late Tuesday, the court did not appear to have reached a decision.

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

He said the lack of police presence forced the military to divert forces to the bases to expel the protesters. In a letter to Netanyahu, he called on him to “act harshly against the coalition members who participated in the riots.”

Ben-Gvir, whose ministry is in charge of police, responded with his own letter to Netanyahu saying the allegations he delayed police response to the riots were baseless.

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

The defense lawyer, Rom, said the incident under investigation took place at Sde Teiman a month ago. He said the detainee attacked officers during a search, and the soldiers “used force but didn’t do anything sexual.” He said the detainee was a high-ranking Hamas militant.

His account of the incident or the detainee’s identity could not be independently confirmed. Rom works for Honenu, a nationalist legal group that specializes in defending Israeli soldiers and civilians facing prosecution over incidents of violence with Palestinians.

Israel has detained thousands of Palestinians since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack that sparked the war in Gaza, 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 detainees from Gaza have at some point passed through Sde Teiman.

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

In an unrelated case, the military said Tuesday that prosecutors issued an indictment against a reserve soldier accused of inflicting “severe violence” against Palestinian detainees he was tasked with guarding, by allegedly beating them with a club or his personal weapon on several occasions. He allegedly filmed the beatings, the military 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 military, he said.

The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel said it welcomed the military’s investigation but said its claims are of systemic abuse at the facility and not just one case.

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

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

Another seven people were killed by Israeli airstrikes in Khan Younis late Monday and early Tuesday, according to officials at Nasser Hospital, where all the bodies were brought.

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

Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas after its Oct. 7 attacks, in which militants killed around 1,200 people and abducted 250 others. Around 110 hostages remain in captivity in Gaza, about a third of them believed to be dead.

In its campaign since, Israel has killed more than 39,363 Palestinians and wounded more than 90,900, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, whose count does not differentiate between civilians and combatants.

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AP correspondent Samy Magdy in Cairo contributed to this report.

Julia Frankel And Natalie Melzer, The Associated Press