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Israeli Military Probes Suspected Abuse of Palestinian Detainee, Drawing Protests

Right-wing Israelis demonstrate next to the Sde Teman military base near Beersheba, against the detention for questioning of military reservists who were suspected of abuse of a detainee following the October 7 attack in Israel, on July 29, 2024. (AFP)
Right-wing Israelis demonstrate next to the Sde Teman military base near Beersheba, against the detention for questioning of military reservists who were suspected of abuse of a detainee following the October 7 attack in Israel, on July 29, 2024. (AFP)
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Israeli Military Probes Suspected Abuse of Palestinian Detainee, Drawing Protests

Right-wing Israelis demonstrate next to the Sde Teman military base near Beersheba, against the detention for questioning of military reservists who were suspected of abuse of a detainee following the October 7 attack in Israel, on July 29, 2024. (AFP)
Right-wing Israelis demonstrate next to the Sde Teman military base near Beersheba, against the detention for questioning of military reservists who were suspected of abuse of a detainee following the October 7 attack in Israel, on July 29, 2024. (AFP)

Israel's military opened an investigation into suspected abuse of a Palestinian held at a detention camp for prisoners captured during the Gaza war, it said on Monday, drawing an outcry from right-wing protesters and politicians.

The military said its Advocate General had ordered the inquiry "following suspected substantial abuse of a detainee". It provided no further details.

Army Radio said military police had showed up as part of their investigation at the Sde Teiman detention site where about 10 reserve soldiers were suspected of abusing a prisoner captured from an elite unit of Palestinian group Hamas.

Rights groups including the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) have alleged serious abuse of detainees at the camp, a former military base in the Negev desert, which Israel has announced will be phased out. The military had previously announced it was investigating allegations of abuse.

As the military police arrived at the camp, a number of civilian protesters, including far right members of parliament, gathered outside, denouncing the investigation of soldiers they said were doing their duty. Some tried to break into the base.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant denounced the break-in attempt.

Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi, the military chief of staff, condemned the protests and defended the investigation, which he said upheld the honor of Israel's military (IDF).

"We are in the midst of a war, and actions of this type endanger the security of the state," Halevi said in a statement regarding the attempted break-in. "It is precisely these investigations that protect our soldiers in Israel and the world and preserve IDF values."

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a prominent leader of the nationalist-religious bloc in Netanyahu's government and frequent critic of the army command, posted a filmed message on social media platform X saying the soldiers should be treated like heroes, not criminals.

Widespread reports of mistreatment of detainees in Israeli prisons have added to international pressure on Israel over its conduct of the Gaza war, now approaching the start of its 11th month. In May, the US State Department said it was looking into allegations of Israeli abuse of Palestinian detainees.

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Lebanese Front’s Tunnels Used for Defense, Attack and Launching Missiles

In 2019, Israeli forces searched for attack tunnels dug in southern Lebanon that extend into Israel (Israeli Ministry of Defense)
In 2019, Israeli forces searched for attack tunnels dug in southern Lebanon that extend into Israel (Israeli Ministry of Defense)
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Lebanese Front’s Tunnels Used for Defense, Attack and Launching Missiles

In 2019, Israeli forces searched for attack tunnels dug in southern Lebanon that extend into Israel (Israeli Ministry of Defense)
In 2019, Israeli forces searched for attack tunnels dug in southern Lebanon that extend into Israel (Israeli Ministry of Defense)

Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah group faces Israeli air superiority and technological capabilities by going underground. The group has built a massive and complex network of tunnels in the South, the southern suburbs of Beirut, and the Bekaa regions.
The ongoing clashes between Hezbollah and the Israeli army on the southern Lebanese border, which erupted in October, has brought back the spotlight on these tunnels, which have been shown to be divided into 3 types.
The first are defensive tunnels that allow the party’s fighters to take shelter from aircraft raids. The second are offensive tunnels that the Israeli army said it destroyed in 2019, and the third group consists of small tunnels to hide rocket launchers and which appeared in one of the video clips broadcast by Hezbollah’s military media last month.
According to Israeli reports, Hezbollah started digging tunnels in the 1980s and 1990s, but those remained far from the border with Israel. However, in 2006, the Israeli media showed a tunnel that the Israeli army discovered during the July war inside Lebanese territory, and quoted officials as saying that the party’s construction of cross-border tunnels began before the start of the Second Lebanon War in 2006.
Concerned about tunnels extending into Israeli territory, Israeli authorities launched a campaign in 2018 to destroy this infrastructure, and announced in 2019, the end of its operation to raze all of Hezbollah’s cross-border attack tunnels.
The last tunnel that Israel destroyed stretched along 800 meters. The Israeli army said the tunnel extended over dozens of meters into Israel, and was dug to a depth of 55 meters, making it the deepest tunnel discovered by the army. The tunnel was equipped with electricity, had a railway to transport equipment and waste, exit stairs and other elements that made it more advanced than other passageways that were uncovered.
In 2020, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with the participation of the Israeli army, organized a field tour for 12 diplomats from UN Security Council member states, to show them the tunnel on the northern border with Lebanon.
Since the eruption of war on Oct. 8, Lebanese sources have confirmed that the Israeli army used bunker-piercing bombs to destroy tunnels suspected of being built by the party in the border area.
A report issued by the Alma-Israel Research Center said that after the 2006 Lebanon War, the party established a defensive plan to confront any possible Israeli invasion, with dozens of operations centers equipped with local underground networks and tunnels.
In addition to the previous two types of tunnels, Hezbollah media revealed a third category. Last month, the party’s media presented a report on the party’s artillery and weapons, and one of the clips showed a rocket launcher rising from the ground and launching a missile, indicating that the party hides these platforms underground.