{{Short description|Israeli military base detaining Palestinians}} {{pp-extended|small=yes}}{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2025}}
{{Infobox prison |image= Sde Teiman detention camp 1.webp | caption = Blindfolded Palestinian detainees inside the camp in May 2024 |location= Negev desert, Israel |pushpin_map= Israel |coordinates= {{Coord|31|16|24|N|34|42|28|E|type:landmark_region:IL|display=inline,title}} |managed_by= Israeli military |opened={{start date and age|1 December 2023}} |population= |population_as_of = July 2024 |status = Operational }}
'''Sde Teiman''' ({{Langx|he|שדה תימן|lit=}}) is an Israeli military base located in the Negev desert near the border with the Gaza Strip. During the Gaza war, it gained international attention for systemic human rights violations against its Palestinian detainees from the strip.<ref name="CNN-article"/><ref name="Tondo"/><ref name="B'tselem">{{Cite web |date=5 August 2024 |title=Welcome to Hell: The Israeli Prison System as a Network of Torture Camps |url=https://www.btselem.org/publications/202408_welcome_to_hell |website=B'Tselem}}</ref>
Multiple released Palestinian detainees have testified they and others, including children, were subjected to rape, gang-rape, other forms of sexual violence as well as psychological and physical torture by both male and female Israeli soldiers and medical staff.<ref name="MiddleEastEye20240808">{{Cite web |title='Raped by female soldiers': Palestinian in leaked Sde Teiman photo speaks out |url=https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/raped-female-soldiers-palestinian-leaked-sde-teiman-photo-speaks-out |access-date=16 August 2024 |website=Middle East Eye |language=en}}</ref><ref name="MiddleEastEye20240810" /><ref>{{Cite news |date=29 July 2024 |title=Palestinians recount deadly abuse in Israeli prisons: 'It is Guantánamo' |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/07/29/palestinian-prisoners-israel-jails-abuse/ |access-date=16 August 2024 |newspaper=The Washington Post |language=en}}</ref><ref name="B'tselem" /> Multiple reports also speak of prisoners who suffered from medical neglect for injuries sustained, which led to cases of arm and leg amputations. Their testimonies have been corroborated by whistleblowing Israeli staff and a CNN investigation.<ref name="CNN-article"/> The mistreated detainees also included Palestinian healthcare workers who had been captured during Israeli raids on Gaza's hospitals.<ref name="HRW1"/>
In one highly publicized incident, leaked CCTV footage showed Israeli soldiers gang raping a Palestinian detainee with a metal rod that caused him serious injuries to his anus and lungs.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-media-publishes-video-soldiers-allegedly-raping-palestinian|title=Israeli media publishes video of soldiers allegedly raping Palestinian detainee|work=Middle East Eye|first=Alex|last=MacDonald|date=8 August 2024|access-date=8 August 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://jacobin.com/2024/07/israeli-soldiers-accused-of-rape-and-torture-of-palestinians|title=Israeli Soldiers Accused of Rape and Torture of Palestinians|work=Jacobin|first=Seraj|last=Assi|date=30 July 2024|access-date=8 August 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Dyer |first1=Owen |title=Israeli doctors participated in torture, alleges released director of al-Shifa Hospital |journal=The BMJ |date=10 July 2024 |volume=386 |article-number=q1524 |doi=10.1136/bmj.q1524 |pmid=38986564 |url=https://www.bmj.com/content/386/bmj.q1524|url-access=subscription}}</ref> The leak occurred a few weeks after several soldiers suspected of the abuse of a prisoner were detained for questioning, leading to Israeli right-wing protesters and parliamentarians breaking into the camp in protest in late July 2024.<ref name=detention/> One of the soldiers received a prison sentence and five more were indicted for abuse in February 2025.<ref name=bbc0702/><ref name=toi1902/> On 12 March 2026, the IDF dropped sexual assault charges against the five Israeli soldiers accused of raping a Palestinian detainee on the grounds that the defendants' right to a fair trial had been breached.<ref name="JPost 12 Mar 2026">{{cite news |title=Israel's political Right celebrates Sde Teiman case dismissal as rights groups condemn it |url=https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/crime-in-israel/article-889791 |access-date=12 March 2026 |work=Jerusalem Post |date=12 March 2026}}</ref><ref name="Al Jazeera 12 Mar 2026">{{cite news |title=Israel drops charges against soldiers in Palestinian detainee abuse case |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/3/12/israel-drops-charges-on-soldiers-who-allegedly-raped-palestinian-detainee |access-date=12 March 2026 |work=Al Jazeera English |date=12 March 2026 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260312225342/https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/3/12/israel-drops-charges-on-soldiers-who-allegedly-raped-palestinian-detainee|archive-date=12 March 2026|url-status=live}}</ref>
== Background == The military base was partially converted into a detention camp in the wake of the passing of the Unlawful Combatants Law by the Knesset in December 2023.<ref name="CNN-article">{{Cite web |last=Qiblawi |first=Tamara |date=10 May 2024 |title=Israeli whistleblowers detail horror of shadowy detention facility for Palestinians |url=https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/10/middleeast/israel-sde-teiman-detention-whistleblowers-intl-cmd/index.html |access-date=12 May 2024 |website=CNN |language=en}}</ref> It is divided into an enclosure where up to 200 detainees are kept blindfolded and handcuffed in cages, and a field hospital of tents where dozens of handcuffed prisoners are kept.<ref name="Tondo">{{Cite news |last1=Tondo |first1=Lorenzo |last2=Kierszenbaum |first2=Quique |date=23 May 2024 |title=Whistleblowers allege widespread abuses at Israeli detention camp |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/may/23/whistleblowers-allege-widespread-abuses-at-israeli-detention-camp-sde-teiman |access-date=27 May 2024 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> The law allows the Israel Defense Forces to detain people without an arrest warrant for 45 days, after which the detainees must be transferred to the Israel Prison Service.<ref name="CNN-article" /> As of 10 May 2024, the IDF has acknowledged two similar camps: Ofer Prison and a prison in Anatot, both in the West Bank.<ref name="CNN-article" /> Sde Teiman is divided into two sections: enclosures and a field hospital.<ref name="Tondo" /><ref name="CNN-article" /> An additional structure exists where interrogations take place.<ref name="Kingsley" /> Since its establishment, thousands of Israeli soldiers, both regulars and reservists, have served as guards there.<ref>{{Cite news| title = We Served on Israel's Sde Teiman Base. Here's What We Did to Gazans Detained There|last = Fogelman|first=Shay|publisher =Haaretz| url =https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2024-08-16/ty-article-magazine/.highlight/we-served-on-israels-sde-teiman-base-heres-what-we-did-to-gazans-detainees/00000191-5591-d60d-a59b-ff994cb40000|date = 16 August 2024}}</ref>
All Gazans detained by Israel since the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel are classified as unlawful combatants rather than prisoners of war, which excludes them from rights like access to a lawyer.<ref name="Tondo" /> Most detainees, in lieu of evidence that they are members of Hamas, are kept as suspects, without charges laid.<ref name="Tondo" /> This classification is applied to all Gazans detained by Israel since October 2023, which ''The Guardian'' reported to be 849 people as of April 2024.<ref name="Tondo" /> A doctor working at Sde Teiman stated that he didn't know why many of the prisoners he encountered had been detained by Israel; among those he treated were a paraplegic, a man weighing {{convert|300|lb|kg}}, and another who, since childhood, has had to breathe with the assistance of a tube in his neck.<ref name="Kingsley" />
In December 2023, ''Haaretz'' reported that hundreds of Palestinians from Gaza were being detained in Sde Teiman and that some of them had died for unknown reasons. The detainees were interrogated, blindfolded, and handcuffed, while the lights were kept on at all times.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Shezaf |first=Hagar |date=18 December 2023 |title=Hundreds of Gazans Arrested During War Held Blindfolded and Handcuffed at Israeli Base |url=https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-12-18/ty-article/.premium/hundreds-of-gazans-arrested-during-war-held-blindfolded-and-handcuffed-at-israeli-base/0000018c-7ce6-de44-a9be-7df678fd0000 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20231218143512/https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-12-18/ty-article/.premium/hundreds-of-gazans-arrested-during-war-held-blindfolded-and-handcuffed-at-israeli-base/0000018c-7ce6-de44-a9be-7df678fd0000#selection-549.0-549.86 |archive-date=18 December 2023 |access-date=30 July 2024 |work=Haaretz}}</ref>
On 7 March 2024, ''Haaretz'' reported that 27 prisoners from Gaza had died in Israeli custody since the beginning of the Gaza war, including some from Sde Teiman.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Shezaf |first=Hagar |date=7 March 2024 |title=27 Gaza Detainees Have Died in Custody at Israeli Military Facilities Since the Start of the War |url=https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2024-03-07/ty-article/.premium/27-gaza-detainees-died-in-custody-at-israeli-army-facilities-since-the-start-of-the-war/0000018e-1322-d950-a18e-f3bbaa370000 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20240317162901/https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2024-03-07/ty-article/.premium/27-gaza-detainees-died-in-custody-at-israeli-army-facilities-since-the-start-of-the-war/0000018e-1322-d950-a18e-f3bbaa370000#selection-543.17-547.96 |archive-date=17 March 2024 |access-date=30 July 2024 |work=Haaretz}}</ref> In May, prison officials told ''The New York Times'' that some 4,000 Gazans have been detained at Sde Teiman since October 2023. Of these, 70% had been detained for further investigation, 1200 had been repatriated to Gaza, and 35 had died.<ref name="Kingsley" />
In October 2024, ''The Guardian'' reported that officials from the US' main humanitarian agency, USAID, attend regular meetings at Sde Teiman. Starting in July 2024, Israel created a "Joint Coordination Board" for approving aid operations into Gaza, a body that meets at Sde Teiman and coordinates with US officials there. In an internal USAID document viewed by ''The Guardian'', the "base's name links to its Wikipedia entry, which features photos of blindfolded Palestinian prisoners and details their mistreatment."<ref name="guardian-usaid">{{Cite news |last=Guyer |first=Jonathan |date=14 October 2024 |title=US officials attend Gaza aid meetings on site of Israeli prison accused of 'horrific' torture |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/oct/14/usaid-gasa-aid-meetings-sde-teiman |access-date=14 October 2024 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref>
== Abuse of detainees == {{see also|Torture during the Gaza war}}
===Torture===
An Amnesty International report released in July 2024 included accounts of abuse from Sde Teiman detainees that were consistent with earlier reports. Amnesty interviewed a 14-year-old child who stated that interrogators had beaten him, burned him with cigarettes, and kept him blindfolded and handcuffed.<ref name="Amnesty20240718">{{Cite web |date=18 July 2024 |title=Israel must end mass incommunicado detention and torture of Palestinians from Gaza |url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2024/07/israel-must-end-mass-incommunicado-detention-and-torture-of-palestinians-from-gaza/ |access-date=30 July 2024 |website=Amnesty International |language=en}}</ref>
In May 2024, three anonymous Israeli employees of the camp spoke to CNN as whistleblowers, during which they corroborated and expanded upon reports of abuse and poor conditions revealed by multiple detainees who were later released. The whistleblowers detailed enclosures where detainees are blindfolded and not allowed to speak or move. Images leaked to CNN show rows of men wearing gray tracksuits with blindfolds, each sitting on an exceptionally thin mattress, surrounded by a barbed-wire fence.<ref name="CNN-article" /><ref name="TimesOfIsrael20240511">{{Cite news |last=Magid |first=Jacob |date=11 May 2024 |title=US 'deeply concerned' after report alleges Gaza prisoners abused at Israeli facility |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/us-deeply-concerned-after-report-alleges-gaza-prisoners-abused-at-israeli-facility/ |access-date=14 May 2024 |work=The Times of Israel}}</ref>
Punishments include beatings and for prisoners to raise their hands in a stress position, sometimes zip-tied to a fence, for upwards of an hour.<ref name="CNN-article" /><ref name="TimesOfIsrael20240511" /> In what one released detainee called "the nightly torture," guards would conduct routine searches with dogs and sound grenades while prisoners were sleeping.<ref name="CNN-article" /> The detainees are reportedly kept on a diet of one cucumber, some slices of bread and a cup of cheese a day.<ref name="Tondo" />
As part of the October 2025 Gaza war ceasefire, Israel returned 135 bodies of Palestinians from Sde Teiman to Gaza. According to doctors in Khan Yunis, forensic examinations "indicate that Israel carried out acts of murder, summary executions and systematic torture against many of the Palestinians", and showed "signs of direct gunfire at point-blank range and bodies crushed beneath Israeli tank tracks." Some of the dead were blindfolded, their hands tied behind their backs, photos showed. In one, a rope was tied around a man’s neck.
The body of Mahmoud Ismail Shabat, 34, showed marks on his neck of hanging, with indications he was injured or killed in Gaza and later taken to Sde Teiman.<ref name="theguardian" /> A detainee’s hand had been amputated "because the wrists had become gangrenous due to handcuffing wounds," a whistleblower said.<ref name="theguardian">{{Cite news |last1=Tondo |first1=Lorenzo |last2=Tantesh |first2=Seham |date=20 October 2025 |title=At least 135 mutilated bodies of Palestinians had been held at notorious Israeli jail, say Gaza officials |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/oct/20/mutilated-bodies-palestinians-held-notorious-israeli-jail-gaza-officials |access-date=24 October 2025 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref>
Shadi Abu Seido, a Palestinian journalist from Gaza, told TRT: "They stripped me completely naked for 10 hours in the cold. I was then transferred to Sde Teiman and held there for 100 days, during which I remained handcuffed and blindfolded. Many died in detention, others lost their minds. Some had limbs amputated. They suffered sexual and physical abuse. They brought dogs that urinated on us. When I asked why I had been arrested, they answered: 'We have killed all the journalists. They died once. But we brought you here and you will die hundreds of times.'"<ref name="theguardian" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Instagram |url=https://www.instagram.com/reel/DP7YiTODfty/ |access-date=3 November 2025 |website=www.instagram.com}}</ref>
=== Sexual abuse and rape === [[File:פרשת גיא פלג – הסרטון המפורסם.png|thumb|Image taken from CCTV footage of alleged {{Interlanguage link|Sde Teiman gang rape investigation|lt=sexual assault against a Palestinian prisoner|he|פרשת ההתעללות במחנה שדה תימן}} at Sde Teiman leaked by Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi and broadcast on Channel 12, an Israeli television station.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Schwartz |first=Roy |date=2025-11-11 |title=A leaked IDF video showing alleged detainee abuse has Israel reeling, but not in the way you might think |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/nov/11/israel-idf-detainee-abuse-leak-sde-teiman |access-date=2026-05-30 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Kubovich |first=Yaniv |date=26 May 2026 |title=Israeli Army Chief Discharges Ex-top Prosecutor Amid Leak Investigation |url=https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/israel-security/2026-05-26/ty-article/.premium/israeli-army-chief-discharges-ex-top-prosecutor-amid-leak-investigation/0000019e-6444-dd0e-a9df-e6764e4b0000 |work=Haaretz}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Kershner |first=Isabel |date=2025-11-04 |title=What to Know About the Legal Scandal in Israel Over Accusations of Abuse |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/04/world/middleeast/israel-soldiers-detainee-tomer-yerushalmi.html |access-date=2026-05-30 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>]] {{Further|Sexual and gender-based violence against Palestinians during the Gaza war}} Several Palestinian prisoners since returned to Gaza reported to UNWRA and the New York Times that a metal stick was used to inflict injury by penetrating the anus of detainees under interrogation and multiple prisoners reported the use of electric shocks, sometimes being forced to "sit in a chair wired with electricity".<ref name="Kingsley">{{cite web |last1=Kingsley |first1=Patrick |last2=Shbair |first2=Bilal |date=6 June 2024 |title=Inside the Base Where Israel Has Detained Thousands of Gazans |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/06/world/middleeast/israel-gaza-detention-base.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20240730123944/https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/06/world/middleeast/israel-gaza-detention-base.html |archive-date=30 July 2024 |access-date=30 July 2024 |work=The New York Times}}</ref><ref>Mr. al-Hamlawi, the senior nurse, said a female officer had ordered two soldiers to lift him up and press his rectum against a metal stick that was fixed to the ground. Mr. al-Hamlawi said the stick penetrated his rectum for roughly five seconds, causing it to bleed and leaving him with "unbearable pain." A leaked draft of the UNRWA report detailed an interview that gave a similar account. It cited a 41-year-old detainee who said that interrogators "made me sit on something like a hot metal stick and it felt like fire," and also said that another detainee "died after they put the electric stick up" his anus.'</ref>
On 29 July 2024, the Israeli military police detained nine Israeli soldiers for questioning as part of an investigation of a suspected abuse of a Palestinian prisoner, whom ''The Times of Israel'' reported "signs of serious abuse, including to his anus".<ref name="detention">{{cite news |title=Military Police raid IDF detention facility, 9 held, over 'serious abuse of a detainee' |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/military-police-raid-idf-detention-facility-9-held-over-serious-abuse-of-a-detainee/ |access-date=30 July 2024 | date = 29 July 2024| publisher=The Times of Israel}}</ref> In response, far-right politicians, including Heritage Minister Amichay Eliyahu and Knesset Member Zvi Sukkot urged their supporters to protest at Sde Teiman against the nine soldiers' detention.<ref name="Fabian" /> Sukkot, Eliyahu, and Knesset Member Nissim Vaturi joined other right-wingers in illegally breaking into Sde Teiman, while hours later the Israeli military's Beit Lid base was also broken into by far-right activists as the nine soldiers were being detained there.<ref name="Fabian">{{cite news |last1=Fabian |first1=Emanuel |title='Bordering on anarchy': IDF chief sounds alarm after right-wing mob breaks into 2nd base |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/bordering-on-anarchy-idf-chief-sounds-alarm-after-right-wing-mob-overruns-2nd-base |access-date=30 July 2024 |work=The Times of Israel |date=30 July 2024}}</ref>
Various right-wing politicians have condemned the Israeli soldiers' detention: Justice Minister Yariv Levin said that "harsh pictures of soldiers being arrested" were "impossible to accept"; National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said that the soldiers' detention was "shameful" and asked for "the military authorities to back the fighters ... Soldiers need to have our full support"; Economy Minister Nir Barkat declared: "I support our fighters", while criticizing the events as a "show trial"; Transportation Minister Miri Regev commented that the arrests of Israeli soldiers were "dangerous" during war, and warned against military prosecutions that were "appeasing our enemies".<ref name="Peleg">{{cite news |last1=Peleg |first1=Bar |last2=Solomon |first2=Eden |last3=Maanit |first3=Chen |last4=Kubovich |first4=Yaniv |title=IDF Moves Troops to Base Where Violent Mob Protested Arrest of Soldiers for Abusing Gaza Detainee |url=https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2024-07-30/ty-article/.premium/idf-move-troops-to-base-where-mob-protested-arrest-of-soldiers-for-abusing-gaza-detainee/00000191-008a-d643-a1d1-b88eb6730001 |access-date=30 July 2024 |work=Haaretz |date=30 July 2024 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20240730082455/https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2024-07-30/ty-article/.premium/idf-move-troops-to-base-where-mob-protested-arrest-of-soldiers-for-abusing-gaza-detainee/00000191-008a-d643-a1d1-b88eb6730001 |archive-date=30 July 2024}}</ref> Separately, Knesset Member Hanoch Milwidsky argued in the Knesset that it is permissible to sexually abuse Hamas commandos of the Nukhba: "...everything is legitimate to do. Everything."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Kingsley |first1=Patrick |last2=Boxerman |first2=Aaron |last3=Odenheimer |first3=Natan |title=Unrest at Army Bases Highlights a Long Battle for Israel's Soul |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/31/world/middleeast/israel-army-bases-riots.html |access-date=2 August 2024 |work=The New York Times |date=31 July 2024 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20240801053852/https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/31/world/middleeast/israel-army-bases-riots.html |archive-date=1 August 2024}}</ref> Ibrahim Salem, featured in one of the first photos leaked from the detention camp, was held there for 52 days without charge and released in early August 2024.<ref name="MiddleEastEye20240808" /><ref name="MiddleEastEye20240810" /> He reported widespread torture, including by medical staff, as well as electrocution during interrogations, sexual abuse, constant beatings, forced stripping, genital grabbing, and frequent occurrences of rape and gang-rape committed by both male and female soldiers.<ref name="MiddleEastEye20240808" /> Children were also subjected to rape.<ref name="MiddleEastEye20240810">{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WKeKZ6Csro|title=Palestinian in leaked Sde Teiman photo speaks out|date=10 August 2024|work=Middle East Eye|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240811152052/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WKeKZ6Csro|archive-date=11 August 2024|url-status=live|access-date=11 August 2024}}</ref> In one instance, a prisoner in his 40s was handcuffed and forced to bend over a desk while a female soldier inserted her fingers and other objects into his rectum. If the prisoner moved, a male soldier positioned in front of him would beat him and compel him to remain in that position.<ref name="MiddleEastEye20240810" /> According to Salem, "Most of the prisoners will come out with rectal injuries [caused by the gang-rape]."<ref name="MiddleEastEye20240810" /> A doctor at Sde Teiman who examined a detainee who suffered sexual abuse stated, "I couldn't believe an Israeli prison guard could do such a thing".<ref>{{cite web |last1=Shezaf |first1=Hagar |last2=Peleg |first2=Bar |last3=Shimoni |first3=Ran |title=Sde Teiman Doctor Who Saw Abused Gazan Detainee: 'I Couldn't Believe an Israeli Prison Guard Could Do Such a Thing' |url=https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2024-07-30/ty-article/.premium/doctor-who-saw-abused-gazan-detainee-i-couldnt-believe-an-israeli-jailer-could-do-this/00000191-0436-df85-a399-ed36f4800000 |website=Haaretz |access-date=18 August 2024}}</ref> A surveillance video leaked in August 2024 apparently showed Israeli soldiers sexually assaulting a detainee.<ref>{{cite web |title=Video appears to show Israeli soldiers sexually assaulting a Palestinian detainee |url=https://www.cnn.com/2024/08/09/world/video/israel-sde-teiman-alleged-prisoner-abuse-footage-diamond-tsr-digvid |website=CNN |date=10 August 2024 |access-date=18 August 2024}}</ref>
Walid Khalili, a Palestinian Medical Relief Society paramedic and ambulance driver detained in Sde Teiman for 20 days without charge, described severe mistreatment by Israeli soldiers. Transferred from Tel al-Hawa to the detention camp, he was forced to wear a diaper and placed in a large warehouse-like building with chains hanging from the ceiling. Detainees, also in diapers, were suspended from chains attached to metal handcuffs. Khalili described being chained, electrocuted while wearing a garment and headband connected to wires, and subjected to beatings. He recounted, "The world was spinning around, and I fainted. They hit me with batons... With every question I was electro-shocked to wake me up. He told me confess and we will stop torturing you." He endured electric shocks every other day, stress positions, and cold water dousing. Before interrogations, he was given an unknown drug that caused hallucinations and disorientation. He reported that an interrogator fluent in Arabic questioned him about hostages, threatened harm to his family if he did not confess, and "told me how many children I have, all their names, my address." He received no medical care despite having broken ribs, witnessed a detainee's leg being amputated due to shackling, and saw another detainee die from what appeared to be cardiac arrest.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/08/26/palestinian-paramedics-ordeal-israeli-detention|title=A Palestinian Paramedic's Ordeal in Israeli Detention|last=Ansari|first=Milena|date=26 August 2024|work=Human Rights Watch|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240826090948/https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/08/26/palestinian-paramedics-ordeal-israeli-detention|archive-date=26 August 2024|url-status=live|access-date=26 August 2024}}</ref>
===Use of dogs=== One prisoner at the Sde Teiman torture camp told the PHCR that “We were stripped completely. Soldiers brought dogs that climbed on us and urinated on me. Then one of the dogs raped me – the dog... inserted its penis into my anus".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Israeli Prison Guards Are Using Dogs to Rape Palestinians, Former Detainees Say |url=https://novaramedia.com/2025/11/25/israeli-prison-guards-are-using-dogs-to-rape-palestinians-former-detainees-say/ |access-date=2026-04-22 |website=Novara Media |language=en-GB}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=PCHR Documents Testimonies of Systematic Rape and Sexual Torture in Israeli Detention against Released Palestinian Detainees |url=https://pchrgaza.org/pchr-documents-testimonies-of-systematic-rape-and-sexual-torture-in-israeli-detention-against-released-palestinian-detainees/ |access-date=2026-04-22 |language=en}}</ref>
In June 2024, a Palestinian prisoner released from Sde Teiman gave testimony that prisoners were raped by dogs.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Iraqi |first=Amjad |date=2024-06-27 |title=‘More horrific than Abu Ghraib’: Lawyer recounts visit to Israeli detention center |url=https://www.972mag.com/sde-teiman-prisoners-lawyer-mahajneh/ |access-date=2026-04-22 |website=+972 Magazine |language=en-US}}</ref>
===Healthcare workers=== Palestinian healthcare workers in the Gaza Strip had been arbitrarily detained by the Israeli military during their raids on hospitals during the war, and transferred to detention centers in Israel's south, including Sde Teiman. Human Rights Watch has documented several of these cases, in which detained health workers were beaten, stripped, handcuffed weeks on end, and subject to torture and sexual violence, as well as threats of rape and killing of their Gaza family members.<ref name="HRW1">{{cite web|url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/08/26/israel-palestinian-healthcare-workers-tortured|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240826065526/https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/08/26/israel-palestinian-healthcare-workers-tortured|archive-date=26 August 2024|title=Israel: Palestinian Healthcare Workers Tortured|work=Human Rights Watch|access-date=27 August 2024|date=26 August 2024}}</ref>
===Lawyer visits===
Khaled Mahajneh, a lawyer who visited the detention center, stated that the conditions were "more horrific than anything we've heard about Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo." He stated that he went to the detention center seeking information on a reporter named Muhammad Arab from Al Araby TV who had been detained while covering the Al-Shifa Hospital siege. Khaled described the reporter as being "unrecongnizable", and said that he had testified of prisoners being routinely abused, of guards openly sexually assaulting prisoners, and of multiple prisoners having died from torture.<ref>{{cite web|work=+972 Magazine|first=Baker|last=Zoubi|title=More horrific than Abu Ghraib': Lawyer recounts visit to Israeli detention center|date=27 June 2024|url=https://www.972mag.com/sde-teiman-prisoners-lawyer-mahajneh/|access-date=30 July 2024}}</ref>
=== Field hospitals === In April 2024, ''Haaretz'' obtained a letter written by a doctor at a field hospital at Sde Teiman to Israel's attorney general, defense minister, and health minister.<ref name="CNN20240404">{{Cite news |last1=Shezaf |first1=Hagar |last2=Tov |first2=Michael Hauser |date=4 April 2024 |title=Doctor at Israeli field hospital for detained Gazans: 'We are all complicit in breaking the law' |url=https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2024-04-04/ty-article/.premium/doctor-at-idf-field-hospital-for-detained-gazans-we-are-all-complicit-in-breaking-law/0000018e-a59c-dfed-ad9f-afdfb5ce0000 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20240515122332/https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2024-04-04/ty-article/.premium/doctor-at-idf-field-hospital-for-detained-gazans-we-are-all-complicit-in-breaking-law/0000018e-a59c-dfed-ad9f-afdfb5ce0000 |archive-date=15 May 2024 |access-date=14 May 2024 |work=Haaretz |language=en}}</ref><ref name="CNN20240406">{{Cite web |last=Kent |first=Lauren |date=6 April 2024 |title=Israeli doctor says detained Palestinians are undergoing 'routine' amputations for handcuff injuries, Haaretz reports |url=https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/06/middleeast/doctor-israel-hospital-conditions-intl/index.html |access-date=14 May 2024 |website=CNN |language=en}}</ref> The doctor wrote that "inmates are fed through straws, defecate in diapers and are held [in] constant restraints, which violate medical ethics and the law."<ref name="CNN20240404" /><ref name="CNN20240406" /> The doctor alleged that understaffing and inadequate care led to complications and deaths, describing amputations due to handcuff injuries as "routine."<ref name="CNN20240404" /><ref name="CNN20240406" /> A separate medical source who visited Sde Teiman corroborated the letter to CNN.<ref name="CNN20240406" /> The source also characterized systemic dehumanizing of detainees, alleging that officials are told not to use prisoners' names but rather their serial numbers.<ref name="CNN20240406" />
Whistleblowers to CNN echoed previous accounts of wounded detainees physically restrained to beds, wearing diapers, fed through straws, and blindfolded.<ref name="CNN-article" /> They further alleged that medical procedures are frequently performed by underqualified employees, operations are often done without anesthesia, and patients are refused pain relievers.<ref name="Tondo" /><ref name="CNN-article" /> Some of the detainees were reportedly arrested in hospitals in Gaza while undergoing treatment.<ref name="Tondo" /> According to the whistleblowers, the medical team were told to not document treatments or sign papers, corroborating April 2024 reporting by Physicians for Human Rights in Israel that anonymity is employed to hinder potential investigation;<ref name="CNN-article" /><ref name="TimesOfIsrael20240511" /><ref>{{Cite news |last1=Ziv |first1=Hadas |last2=Dror |first2=Oneg Ben |date=April 2024 |title=MEDICAL ETHICS AND THE DETENTION OF GAZA RESIDENTS SINCE THE START OF THE 2023 WAR: AN ETHICAL OPINION PAPER |url=https://www.phr.org.il/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/5954_medical_ethics_Report_Eng.pdf |access-date=14 May 2024 |work=Physicians for Human Rights in Israel |page=10}}</ref> during the 2024 ''New York Times'' visit, the newspaper noted that three doctors attributed their use of anonymity to fear of retribution from "Hamas and their allies".<ref name="Kingsley"></ref> Whistleblowers further stated that patients were shackled to their beds and surgeries were performed without adequate painkillers.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Frankel |first1=Julia |title=Israel maintains a shadowy hospital in the desert for Gaza detainees. Critics allege mistreatment |url=https://apnews.com/article/israel-gaza-war-hamas-palestinians-sde-teiman-3ca025f6ca412ce07c0c41cf11c52c6f |website=Associated Press |date=June 2024 |access-date=4 June 2024}}</ref>
== Responses == ===Israel=== {{Further interlanguage link|Sde Teiman camp abuse affair|he|פרשת ההתעללות במחנה שדה תימן}} In response to allegations made by the whistleblowers, the Israeli military stated that they treat detainees "appropriately and carefully," and that "incidents of unlawful handcuffing are not known to the authorities."<ref name="Tondo" /><ref name="CNN-article" /> Maj. Gen. Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, the military advocate-general, stated that military police investigations have been opened into allegations of misconduct at Sde Teiman.<ref>{{Cite news |date=27 May 2024 |title=IDF probing allegations of torture of Gazan detainees at Sde Teiman base – military prosecutor |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/idf-probing-allegations-of-torture-of-gazan-detainees-at-sde-teiman-base-military-prosecutor/ |access-date=27 May 2024 |work=The Times of Israel}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=27 May 2024 |title=Israeli military investigates deaths of Gaza war detainees |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israeli-military-investigates-deaths-gaza-war-detainees-2024-05-27/ |access-date=27 May 2024 |work=Reuters}}</ref>
On 23 May 2024, Israeli human rights groups petitioned the High Court of Justice to close the detention center at Sde Teiman.<ref>{{Cite news |date=23 May 2024 |title=Rights groups petition court to shutter Negev detention facility over torture claims |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/rights-groups-petition-court-to-shutter-negev-detention-facility-over-torture-claims/ |access-date=27 May 2024 |work=The Times of Israel}}</ref> On 5 June, the Israeli government told the court that they were planning to transfer most prisoners out of Sde Teiman;<ref name="CNN20240605" /> Amnesty International noted in July that "little appears to have changed".<ref name="Amnesty20240718" /> In September 2024, the High Court declined to order the shutting of the detention center.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Sharon |first1=Jeremy |title=High Court declines to shutter Sde Teiman, orders state to abide by law for detainees |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/high-court-declines-to-shutter-sde-teiman-orders-state-to-abide-by-law-for-detainees/ |website=The Times of Israel |date=18 September 2024 |access-date=22 September 2024}}</ref>
According to the ''Times of Israel'', following the reports of abuse of detainees, on 25 May 2024, an unnamed female IDF soldier claimed women guards in Sde Teiman have been subjected to "some form of sexual harassment" from detainees, from allegedly blowing kisses their way and making suggestive remarks to spitting on the floor when they speak.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/jailed-nukhba-terrorists-regularly-sexually-harass-female-guards-soldier-says/|title=Jailed Nukhba terrorists regularly sexually harass female guards, soldier says|work=The Times of Israel|date=26 May 2024|access-date=31 July 2024}}</ref> According to ''Haaretz,'' citing testimony from Israeli guards at Sde Teiman, female guards made unfounded claims of sexual harassment resulting in torture, beatings and rape of detainees as punishment.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Fogelman |first=Shay |date=16 August 2024 |title=We Served on Israel's Sde Teiman Base. Here's What We Did to Gazans Detained There |url=https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2024-08-16/ty-article-magazine/.highlight/we-served-on-israels-sde-teiman-base-heres-what-we-did-to-gazans-detainees/00000191-5591-d60d-a59b-ff994cb40000 |work=Haaretz}}</ref> Testimonies from Palestinian victims of sexual violence, rape, torture and genital mutilation also relate to female Israeli guards and soldiers engaging in such acts.<ref name="MiddleEastEye20240810" /><ref>{{cite web |last1=Kermani |first1=Secunder |title=Palestinian detainees allege torture and sexual abuse by Israeli captors |url=https://www.channel4.com/news/palestinian-detainees-allege-torture-and-sexual-abuse-by-israeli-captors |access-date=25 August 2024 |website=Channel 4 |date=19 August 2024 }}</ref>
On 7 February 2025, an Israeli military court sentenced a male IDF reservist to seven months in prison after he pleaded guilty to three counts of aggravated abuse against Gazan prisoners and one of conduct unbecoming during a plea deal with prosecutors. These related to four incidents between January and June 2024 of punching detainees, using his weapon on restrained prisoners and forcing prisoners to say demeaning phrases and howl like dogs. The convicted soldier was also given a suspended sentence and demoted to the rank of private.<ref name=bbc0702>{{cite news |title=Israeli soldier jailed for abusing Palestinian detainees from Gaza |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqldpyn5ng6o |access-date=28 February 2025 |work=BBC News |date=7 February 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250209212054/https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqldpyn5ng6o |archive-date=9 February 2025|url-status=live}}</ref> On 19 February, Israeli prosecutors charged five IDF reservists with the severe abuse and alleged gang rape of a Palestinian prisoner on 5 July 2024. These defendants included a major, captain, sergeant major, sergeant first class and a corporal.<ref name=toi1902>{{cite news |last1=Fabian |first1=Emanuel |last2=Sharon |first2=Jeremy |title=5 IDF reservists indicted for severe abuse of Palestinian detainee at Sde Teiman |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/5-idf-reservists-indicted-for-severe-abuse-of-palestinian-detainee-at-sde-teiman/ |access-date=28 February 2025 |work=The Times of Israel |date=19 February 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250222011154/https://www.timesofisrael.com/5-idf-reservists-indicted-for-severe-abuse-of-palestinian-detainee-at-sde-teiman/ |archive-date=22 February 2025|url-status=live}}</ref>
On 29 July 2024, demonstrators opposed to the charges stormed the Beit Lid army base in central Israel and demonstrated outside Tomer-Yerushalmi's house, calling her a "traitor."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Pelegand |first=Bar |date=29 July 2024 |title=Dozens of Protesters Storm Israeli Army Base Where Soldiers Suspected of Abuse of Palestinian Detainee Are Held |url=https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2024-07-29/ty-article/.premium/dozens-of-far-right-protesters-break-into-idf-base-where-detained-soldiers-are-held/00000190-ffab-dfce-a990-fffb6d1d0000 |access-date=3 November 2025 |work=Haaretz}}</ref> On 31 October 2025 she admitted leaking a video of the abuse in 2024 and resigned.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Tibon |first=Amir |date=2 November 2025 |title=A Dangerous Israeli Scandal How a Leaked Video of a Notorious IDF Detention Center Could Help Netanyahu Take Down Israel's Democracy |url=https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2025-11-02/ty-article/.premium/how-a-leaked-video-and-an-idf-scandal-could-help-netanyahu-take-down-israels-democracy/0000019a-40e5-d549-a9db-4de54f860000 |access-date=3 November 2025 |work=Haaretz}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Bodkin |first=Henry |date=3 November 2025 |title=The torture video shaking Israel to its core |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2025/11/03/the-torture-video-shaking-israel-to-its-core/ |access-date=3 November 2025 |work=The Telegraph |language=en-GB |issn=0307-1235}}</ref> On the night of 2 November she was reported missing, and, when found at a Tel Aviv beach, was arrested in suspicion of leaking the video.<ref>{{Cite web |title=IDF Top Prosecutor at Center of Abuse Video Leak Arrested After Being Reported Missing Earlier on Sunday |url=https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2025-11-02/ty-article/.premium/police-searching-for-idf-legal-chief-missing-after-resignation-over-sde-teiman-leak/0000019a-4560-dd4d-a9bb-75e7aa6b0000 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20251102234233/https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2025-11-02/ty-article/.premium/police-searching-for-idf-legal-chief-missing-after-resignation-over-sde-teiman-leak/0000019a-4560-dd4d-a9bb-75e7aa6b0000 |archive-date=2 November 2025 |access-date=3 November 2025 |website=Haaretz |language=en |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Graham-Harrison |first=Emma |date=3 November 2025 |title=Israel's top military lawyer arrested after she admitted leaking video of soldiers' abuse |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/nov/03/israels-top-military-lawyer-arrested-after-she-admitted-leaking-video-of-soldiers-abuse |access-date=3 November 2025 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref>
On 12 March 2026, the IDF's Military Advocate General Maj. Gen. Itay Offir dropped the sexual assault charges against the five Israeli soldiers accused of raping a Palestinian detainee in 2024 on the grounds that their rights to a fair trial had been breached when his predecessor Tomer-Yerushalmi leaked footage of the alleged assault to the media.<ref name="JPost 12 Mar 2026" /> This announcement was welcomed by several right-wing Israeli figures including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defence Minister Israel Katz and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich as a vindication of the defendants and the IDF.<ref name="JPost 12 Mar 2026" /> By contrast, the dropping of the charges was condemned by the non-governmental organisation the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel and Hadash Ta'al Member of Knesset Aida Touma-Suleiman as a whitewash and a cover-up.<ref name="JPost 12 Mar 2026" /><ref name="Al Jazeera 12 Mar 2026" />
===United States=== US State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller called reports of sexual abuse of Palestinian detainees at Sde Teiman by Israeli soldiers to be "horrific" and called for a swift investigation and to hold those involved accountable. His 8 August 2024 statement added that "There ought to be zero tolerance of any sexual abuse, rape, of any detainees, period."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://edition.cnn.com/2024/08/07/middleeast/us-israel-sexual-abuse-palestinian-detainees-intl-latam/index.html|title=State Dept calls for Israel to investigate allegations of 'horrific' sexual abuse of Palestinian detainees|work=CNN|first1=Tara|last1=John|first2=Michael|last2=Conte|access-date=8 August 2024|date=7 August 2024}}</ref>
In October 2024, ''The Guardian'' revealed that the American aid agency USAID meets with its Israeli counterparts at Sde Teiman, starting at least in July 2024 with the creation of an Israeli "Joint Coordination Board" at the prison, tasked with overseeing all aid into Gaza.<ref name="guardian-usaid" />
===United Nations=== Alice Jill Edwards, United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture and Unlawful Combatants, called for an investigation<ref name="CNN20240605">{{Cite web |last1=Salman |first1=Abeer |last2=Qiblawi |first2=Tamara |last3=Goodwin |first3=Allegra |last4=Arvanitidis |first4=Barbara |date=5 June 2024 |title=Israel phasing out use of desert detention camp after CNN investigation detailing abuses |url=https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/05/middleeast/israel-top-court-sde-teiman-hearing-intl/index.html |access-date=30 July 2024 |website=CNN |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=23 May 2024 |title=Israel: UN expert calls for probe of allegations of torture and mistreatment against Palestinian detainees |url=https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/05/israel-un-expert-calls-probe-allegations-torture-and-mistreatment-against |website=OHCHR}}</ref> and later condemned the alleged sexual abuse as "particularly gruesome."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Siddiqui |first=Usaid |date=16 August 2024 |title=UN expert condemns alleged sexual assault of Palestinian by Israeli soldiers |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/8/16/israel-war-on-gaza-live-children-killed-in-israeli-attack-on-jabalia-camp?update=3122099 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240816200534/https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/8/16/israel-war-on-gaza-live-children-killed-in-israeli-attack-on-jabalia-camp?update=3122099 |archive-date=16 August 2024 |access-date=16 August 2024 |work=Al Jazeera}}</ref>
===Other=== The camp has been dubbed "Israel's Guantánamo Bay."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Wilkins |first1=Brett |title=Doctor at Israeli Detention Camp for Gazans Blows Whistle on War Crimes |url=https://www.commondreams.org/news/gaza-detainees |access-date=13 May 2024 |work=Common Dreams |date=4 April 2024 |language=en}}</ref><ref name=wp-20240729>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/07/29/palestinian-prisoners-israel-jails-abuse/ |title=Palestinians recount deadly abuse in Israeli prisons: 'It is Guantánamo' |last1=Morris |first1=Loveday |last2=Taha |first2=Sufian |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=29 July 2024 |access-date=31 July 2024 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20240729061551/https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/07/29/palestinian-prisoners-israel-jails-abuse/ |archive-date=29 July 2024}}</ref>
== See also == * Camp 1391 * Human rights violations against Palestinians by Israel * Mass detentions in the Gaza war * Palestinian prisoners in Israel * Torture during the Gaza war * Abu Ghraib prison (2003–2006) * Sednaya Prison in Syria, nicknamed the "Human Slaughterhouse"
== References == {{reflist}}
{{Gaza genocide}} {{War crimes}}
Category:Black sites Category:Crimes against prisoners of war Category:Internment camps Category:Israeli war crimes in the Gaza war Category:Military prison camps Category:Military prisoner abuse scandals Category:Prisons in Israel Category:Rape with foreign objects Category:Sexual violence in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict Category:Torture in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict Category:Torture in Israel Category:2023 establishments in Israel Category:Prisons completed in the 2020s Category:Torture camps Category:Filmed crimes