Palestinians some holding images of relatives held in Israeli jails protest calling for their release at the Duwar al-Manara in central Ramallah, in the Israeli occupied West Bank on July 21, 2024. (Jaafar Ashtiyeh, AFP via Getty Images/TNS)
(Tribune News Service) — Israel’s military police said it raided a prison holding detainees from the Gaza war following allegations an inmate was subject to “serious abuse,” a move criticized by some members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling coalition.
Local TV stations showed images of soldiers being arrested Monday at Sde Teiman, a desert base in southern Israel holding suspected Hamas fighters who carried out the Oct. 7 attacks.
The jail, where Palestinians captured during the near 10-month military campaign in Gaza are also held, has been the subject of Supreme Court challenges by human-rights watchdogs alleging intolerable conditions. Those claims have failed to attract much sympathy in Israel, where outrage over the Oct. 7 atrocities remains high.
Local media reported that several army reservists deployed as wardens at Sde Teiman were arrested. TV showed what appeared to be military policemen, some wearing masks to conceal their faces, leading away a soldier.
The Israel Defense Forces said Israeli civilians tried to break into Sde Teiman in an apparent protest against the arrests. Their actions are “extremely serious and against the law,” chief of staff Herzi Halevi said in a statement.
The military didn’t immediately confirm any arrests, saying only that its judge advocate-general had ordered an investigation into the suspected abuse of a detainee.
“Take your hands off the reservists!” Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s far-right minister for national security, said on X, as several members of his faction pledged to drive to Sde Teiman to prevent arrests. Ben Gvir, the head of the nationalist Jewish Power party, is part of Netanyahu’s coalition that allows him to hold a ruling majority.
Yuli Edelstein, a member of Netanyahu’s Likud party and head of parliament’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, said he would summon the judge advocate-general and military police chief for a hearing before the forum.
“Our soldiers are not criminals,” Edelstein said in a statement.
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