Israelis protest arrest of soldiers accused of gang-raping Gazan detainee

By Zein Khalil

JERUSALEM (AA) – Right-wing Israeli protesters stormed a military base in central Israel on Monday to protest the arrest of soldiers accused of gang-raping a Palestinian detainee at Sde Teiman Prison in the Negev desert.

Protesters closed the Military Police base in Beit Lid town where the soldiers are held for questioning, Army Radio reported.

Masked soldiers in military uniform took part in the protest, Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper said.

Israeli media earlier reported that a detainee from the Gaza Strip was gang-raped by Israeli soldiers at the Sde Teiman Prison in southern Israel.

Israeli public broadcaster KAN, citing a security source, said the detainee was taken to a hospital with severe injuries to an intimate body part, which left him without the ability to walk.

According to Israel’s Army Radio, 10 soldiers were detained for questioning as part of an investigation into the gruesome abuse.

Several reports emerged of severe abuses against Palestinian detainees at the notorious facility since the start of Israel’s ongoing offensive on the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli army is believed to have detained thousands of Palestinians, including women, children, and medics since Oct. 7, 2023.

In recent months, the army has released dozens of Palestinian detainees from Gaza in deteriorating health conditions, with their bodies bearing torture scars.

Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Palestinian group Hamas.

More than 39,360 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and nearly 91,000 injured, according to local health authorities.

Over nine months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar