As Israel faces new scrutiny for its abuse allegations at Sde Teiman military prison, Israel’s treatment of children remains stark. This all coincides with major developments playing out in the ongoing conflict with Hamas. In May 2024, CNN exposed some of the most alarming allegations yet from three brave whistleblowers. They documented traumatizing experiences of systematic mistreatment and abuse of Palestinian detainees at this infamous facility. In August 2024, a leak of a recently created undercover security video escalated those fears when Israel’s Channel 12 broadcast it. As you all may remember, that footage featured horrific examples of abuse, including sexual abuse.
Now, authorities have arrested the individual charged with leaking the new video. This arrest is just one piece of a large criminal investigation into the allegations. No surprise then that the Israeli government moved quickly to deny the allegations. Less than a month after the allegations, they declared their intention to close Sde Teiman military prison.
Gen. Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, the military’s top lawyer, has assumed personal and operational control of ensuring rule of law within the armed forces. She’ll be looking into the troubling allegations surrounding Sde Teiman. Maj. Gen. Tomer-Yerushalmi himself recently found himself at the center of a public relations storm over the treatment of detainees inside the prison.
The circumstances at Sde Teiman are very concerning. Given its documented history of abuse against Palestinian detainees, this makes the action even more egregious. The COVID-19 pandemic and the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020 have increased these tensions. US/Israel’s deadliest day since ceasefire It’s been called the worst day, at least 104 Palestinians killed by airstrikes, many of them children. This latest ceasefire agreement, at the behest of U.S. President Donald Trump, also involved the return of remains of deceased hostages.
In honor of this temporary agreement, Hamas returned the remains of two other hostages. We now know that they have been named as Amiram Cooper, 84, and Sahar Baruch, 25. Israel received, in exchange for Hamas’s release, what Hamas claims is the remains of a third deceased Gaza-held hostage. One notable case involved Omer Neutra, an Israeli-American dual national who was killed during the initial Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023. Once confirmed, the bodies of seven deceased hostages would still be split between Israeli and Palestinian territory.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticized the situation, calling it “pathetic attempts to deceive us, the United States, and the world.”
