Israel drops charges against soldiers accused of abusing Gaza detainee

Israel's most senior military lawyer has said all charges against five soldiers accused of sexually abusing a Palestinian detainee from Gaza have been dropped. The alleged incident at Sde Teiman military prison in July 2024, which was partially caught on CCTV, left the detainee needing hospital treatment for internal injuries. The soldiers were charged with aggravated abuse and causing serious bodily harm, which they denied. The military said the indictments were withdrawn in part due to "exceptional circumstances that negatively affected the ability to prosecute the case while also preserving the right for a fair trial of the defendants". Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the decision. But the move was condemned by human rights activists, who say abuse of Palestinians is systematic in Israeli jails and rarely investigated properly. Warning: this story contains a description of alleged sexual abuse A military prison was set up at Sde Teiman after the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023 to hold Palestinians detained during the ensuing war in Gaza. In August 2024, an Israeli TV channel broadcast leaked CCTV video that allegedly showed soldiers serving as gua