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sde teiman
7-Month Sentence for Israeli Reservist Who Beat Palestinians Called 'Woefully Inadequate'
"There were other people involved in the incident who were not brought to justice, and many other cases of abuse have not been investigated at all," lamented one Israeli anti-torture group.
Feb 07, 2025
While welcoming the conviction of an Israel Defense Forces reservist who brutalized Palestinian prisoners at the notorious Sde Teiman torture prison, an Israeli advocacy group on Thursday decried the perpetrator's seven-month sentence as an affront to justice.
The IDF said Thursday that the reservist—identified as 25-year-old Israel Hajabi—admitted "to having severely abused Palestinian detainees" while guarding detainee transport trucks at Sde Teiman, located in Israel's Negev Desert, while he was stationed there between January and June of last year. As part of a plea deal, Hajabi, who has already spent 80 days behind bars, was sentenced to seven additional months of imprisonment and a demotion from staff sergeant to private.
"All those who abused the detainees must be brought to justice, and the military detention facilities must be closed immediately."
"The defendant was convicted of several incidents in which he struck detainees with his fists and his weapon while they were bound and blindfolded," the IDF said. "These acts were carried out in the presence of other soldiers, some of whom called on him to stop, and were even recorded on the defendant's mobile phone. The military court determined that additional masked soldiers participated in the abuse, though their identities remain unknown."
Hajabi also forced victims to make animal noises, say "am Yisrael chai"—Hebrew for "the people of Israel live"—and other demeaning phrases.
This is the first time that an IDF member has been convicted for harming Palestinians during the war on Gaza, during which Israeli forces killed or wounded more than 170,000 men, women, and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
Sde Teiman gained global infamy following reports of torture, rape, and murder of detainees. The IDF is investigating the deaths of at least 36 Palestinians at Sde Teiman, including one who died after allegedly being sodomized with an electric baton.
The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI), a Jerusalem-based nonprofit, called Hajabi's sentence "woefully inadequate."
"The conviction of the reservist and the sentence he received are indeed important developments, especially in light of the delay and weakness that the military justice system has demonstrated since the beginning of the war in handling and enforcing similar cases of abuse of detainees," PCATI said in a statement posted on social media.
"However, it is difficult to ignore the fact that the sentence does not constitute a significant deterrent," the group continued. "Physical harm and humiliation of a helpless detainee by someone who is trusted with his safety, when other soldiers have called on him to stop the act, constitutes serious abuse that requires a much more severe punishment, one that will ensure true deterrence and emphasize the seriousness of the offense."
"It is important to remember that there were other people involved in the incident who were not brought to justice, and many other cases of abuse have not been investigated at all to this day, and they may remain unpunished and without appropriate response," PCATI added. "All those who abused the detainees must be brought to justice, and the military detention facilities must be closed immediately."
Hassan Jabareen, the director of the Palestinian rights group Adalah, toldThe Guardian Thursday that Hajabi's case "including the punishment, indicates that Israel has a policy of impunity when it comes to their soldiers."
"Whatever they do, at most they will have a light sentence," he added, claiming that some Palestinian citizens of Israel have received longer prison sentences than Hajabi for social media posts expressing solidarity with Gaza.
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Israel Blocks UN Probe of Alleged Hamas Sex Crimes During October 7 Attack
Israeli officials reportedly did not want U.N. investigators to have access to prisons where Palestinian detainees have allegedly been subjected to rape and other sexual violence.
Jan 08, 2025
Israel has blocked a request from United Nations sex crimes experts to probe alleged sexual violence perpetrated by Hamas fighters during the October 7, 2023 attack, reportedly to avoid attendant scrutiny of rapes and other abuses allegedly committed by Israeli forces against imprisoned Palestinians.
The Israeli newspaper Haaretzreported Wednesday that Pramila Patten, the U.N.'s special representative on sexual violence in conflict, sought Israeli authorization to investigate alleged sex crimes committed by Hamas during the massive attack it led on Israel.
While some allegations of Hamas sex crimes have lacked evidence or have been outright debunked, Patten concluded last year that "there are reasonable grounds to believe that conflict-related sexual violence—including rape and gang-rape—occurred across multiple locations of Israel and the Gaza periphery during the attacks on October 7, 2023."
Patten's office "also found convincing information that sexual violence was committed against hostages" that were kidnapped from Israel "and has reasonable grounds to believe that such violence may still be ongoing against those in captivity."
Former hostages have said they were physically, sexually, and psychologically abused by their Palestinian captors.
In addition to investigating alleged Hamas sexual violence, Patten demanded—and was denied—access to Israeli prisons to investigate sex crimes allegations against Israel Defense Forces personnel. U.N. agencies and international human rights groups have published accounts by former Palestinian prisoners and other witnesses describing rape and sexual torture by male and female IDF soldiers and, in one case, by a dog.
Among the at least 36 detainee deaths at Israel's notorious Sde Teiman torture prison under IDF investigation is one man who died after allegedly being sodomized with an electric baton.
Last July, video emerged of IDF troops allegedly gang-raping a Sde Teiman detainee. After several IDF soldiers were arrested in connection with the attack, a mob of far-right Israelis stormed Sde Teiman in a bid to free the defendants, and Israeli leaders including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich demanded a probe—not to seek justice for the victim, but rather to find and punish whoever leaked the video.
Patten's office told Haaretz that it "is exploring a future mission to the region after receiving an invitation from the Palestinian Authority regarding reports of conflict-related sexual violence against Palestinians as well as outreach by the government of Israel for a follow-up visit on the October 7 attacks and their aftermath."
The office also warned that Israel's refusal to cooperate with its probe could backfire and end up with the country included on the U.N'.s sex crimes blacklist and Hamas left off the list.
Ruth Halperin-Kaddari, a professor at Israel's Bar-Ilan University, told Haaretz that Israel's rejection of the U.N. probe represents "a missed opportunity for a definitive international record and recognition for the victims—not to mention the obligation to thoroughly investigate the new evidence to uncover the truth."
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Allies Demand Release of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya From Notorious Israeli Prison
"Bombing of hospitals and kidnapping, torturing, and killing doctors and healthcare workers is illegal and immoral and a crime according to the Genocide Convention," asserted Doctors for Humanity.
Dec 30, 2024
Human rights defenders in the global medical community and beyond are demanding Israel immediately release Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, the director of Gaza's obliterated Kamal Adwan Hospital, who was seized by Israeli troops on Saturday and is believed to be imprisoned at a notorious detention center where dozens of detainees have died and where torture, rape, and other abuses have been reported.
"We appeal to world leaders, to the global medical community, and to all who value humanity: Help us save our friend, our colleague, and a true healer," Dr. Karameh Kuemmerle, a Boston-based pediatric neurologist and co-founder of Doctors Against Genocide, told Common Dreams on Monday.
"Put all kinds of pressure to ensure his release so he can return to his patients, who need him desperately, and to his family, who cannot endure this pain," Kuemmerle added. "We demand a reality that respects life, respects human rights, and respects every man, woman, and child for humanity's sake."
Doctors for Humanity—a coalition of groups including Global Health Coalition, Doctors Against Genocide, and Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations—said in a statement Monday, "We the medical community demand the immediate release of Dr. Abu Safiya and an immediate end to the bombing of hospitals and targeted kidnapping and killing of healthcare workers in Gaza."
"Bombing of hospitals and kidnapping, torturing and killing doctors and healthcare workers is illegal and immoral and a crime according to the Genocide Convention," Doctors for Humanity added.
Dr. Zaher Sahloul, president and co-founder the Illinois-based NGO MedGlobal, for whom Safiya works as lead Gaza physician, said over the weekend that "Dr. Abu Safiya has dedicated his life to protecting the health and lives of children in Gaza, providing care under conditions no medical professional should have to endure."
"His arrest is not only unjust—it is a violation of international humanitarian law, which upholds the protection of medical personnel in conflict zones," the group added. "We urgently call for the immediate and unconditional release of Dr. Abu Safiya."
Dr. Yipeng Ge—who in November 2023 was suspended from his medical residency at the University of Ottawa for social media posts critical of Israel's "settler-colonialism" and "apartheid upon Palestinian people"—called for Abu Safiya's "immediate release," as well as "protection of hospitals and medical workers in Gaza" and "an end to the genocide" there.
My name is Dr. Yipeng Ge. I am a family doctor. I am calling for the immediate release of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya. He was abducted by the Israeli forces. I am calling for protection of hospitals and medical workers in Gaza. And an end to the genocide. #FreeDrHussamAbuSafiya
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— yipeng ge (@yipengge.bsky.social) December 30, 2024 at 7:21 AM
Amnesty International secretary-general Agnès Callamard hailed Abu Safiya as "the voice of Gaza's decimated health sector," who pleaded "for the protection of his hospital" while "working under inhumane conditions, including following the killing of his son" by an Israeli drone strike at the hospital gates earlier this year.
"We at Amnesty are extremely concerned over the fate and well-being of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya," Callamard said. "He must be released immediately and unconditionally."
Recently released former detainees at the Sde Teiman prison in Israel's Negev Desert said Abu Safiya is being held there, and that the Israeli security forces working there—some of whom stand accused of gang-raping a prisoner—are treating captured Palestinian doctors "really badly."
Idrees Abu Safiya, Abu Safiya's son, toldThe Guardian on Monday that his father's leg was badly injured during the Israeli raid on the hospital.
"We are so worried, we haven't been able to sleep for three days because we didn't know until today where he is," Idrees told the British newspaper.
Relatives of Abu Safiya toldCNN that "Sde Teiman is known for brutality and torture, we can't imagine what our father is going through in that place and if he is well or not, warm or cold… hungry or in pain."
The last photo of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, detained after refusing to abandon his colleagues and patients. In just one image, we see both the power of Palestinian humanity and the moral weakness of all those complicit in genocide. End all arms sales to Israel, now.
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— Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn.bsky.social) December 29, 2024 at 3:53 AM
Kuemmerle told Common Dreams: "What is striking about Dr. Abu Safiya is his extraordinary composure, kindness, and unwavering dedication, even in the face of unimaginable hardships. We have come to know his bravery, dedication, humane professionalism, and gentle manners. We are terrified for his fate, knowing all too well as Palestinians the horrors that await our doctors in these torture camps."
Israel claims that Abu Safiya—who, despite the killing of his son and an injury caused by shrapnel from a November 23 Israeli attack on Kamal Adwan, refused to stop working at the hospital—is a suspected Hamas terrorist. That's a common allegation made by Israeli officials, who also often claim that hospitals are used as Hamas command-and-control centers. These officials usually offer very little if any evidence to support their assertions.
"The lies that are being spread right now that [Abu Safiya] is really a Hamas colonel are lies to prevent what is happening right now, which is a global wave of outrage, and that global wave of outrage must grow so we, the global medical community, can stop the relentless attacks on healthcare workers and healthcare infrastructure," Dr. Rupa Marya, a University of California, San Francisco professor of medicine who's currently on paid suspension after questioning whether an Israeli student and likely Israel Defense Forces (IDF) veteran may have committed war crimes, told Common Dreams.
According to the Gaza Health Ministry, hundreds of healthcare workers have been detained and more than 1,000 have been killed since the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel. Critics accuse Israel of deliberately killing and wounding health workers.
The Geneva-based Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor on Saturday published the testimonies of witnesses to alleged IDF war crimes during the Kamal Adwan raid, including "deliberate killings, field executions, as well as sexual and physical assaults on women and girls from medical teams and displaced women in the area."
Responding to Israeli attacks on hospitals and Abu Safiya's detention, Rohan Talbot, director of advocacy and campaigns at London-based Medical Aid for Palestinians, said on the Bluesky social media platform Saturday that "our leaders must demand the immediate and safe release of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya and all detained Gaza health workers."
"Health workers are not a target," he added, "and impunity for Israel's destruction of Palestinian healthcare must end."
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