Sde Teiman detention camp
Sde Teiman is an Israeli military base located in the Negev desert, 18 miles from the border with Gaza,[1] which, during the Israel–Hamas war, has been doubling as a detention camp,[2] used to detain Palestinians from the Gaza Strip. Multiple whistleblowing Israeli employees and released Palestinian detainees have reported systemic abuse and human rights violations, including physical and psychological torture. The camp has been dubbed "Israel's Guantánamo Bay."[3]
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.[2] 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.[1] Most detainees, in lieu of evidence they are Hamas members, are kept as suspects, without charges laid, and are classified as unlawful combatants, which automatically excludes them from the rights of being POWs, such as access to lawyers.[1] This classification is applied to all Gazans, some 849 individuals, detained by Israel since the outbreak of hostilities on October 7, 2023.[1] 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.[2] As of 10 May 2024, the IDF has acknowledged two similar camps: Ofer Prison and a prison in Anatot, both in the West Bank.[2]
The detainees are given one cucumber, some slices of bread and a cup of cheese a day.[1] As of 7 March 2024, Haaretz reported 27 deaths either from Sde Teiman, another camp, or "during questioning in Israeli territory."[4]
Reports of abuse
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.[5][6] 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."[5][6] The doctor alleged that understaffing and inadequate care led to complications and deaths, describing amputations due to handcuff injuries as "routine."[5][6]Some detainees were arrested in hospitals in Gaza while undergoing treatment and incarcerated at Sde Teiman.[1] Painkillers were denied to a patient undergoing painful medical interventions.[1] A separate medical source who visited Sde Teiman corroborated the letter to CNN.[6] The source also characterized systemic dehumanizing of detainees, alleging that officials are told not to use prisoners' names but rather their serial numbers.[6]
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.[2][7]
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.[2][7] In what one released detainee called "the nightly torture," guards would conduct routine searches with dogs and sound grenades while prisoners were sleeping.[2]
The whistleblowers echoed previous accounts of wounded detainees physically restrained to beds, wearing diapers, fed through straws, and blindfolded.[2] They further alleged that medical procedures are frequently performed by underqualified employees and often without anesthesia.[2] 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.[2][7][8]
IDF response
The IDF has responded to reports of maltreatment at Sde Teiman by claiming that the detainees, among whom it states are many who are 'skilled military operatives at a very high level of danger', are treated “appropriately and carefully”.[1]
See also
- Camp 1391
- Human rights violations against Palestinians by Israel
- Mass detentions in the Israel–Hamas war
- Palestinian prisoners in Israel
- Torture during the Israel–Hamas war
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h Lorenzo Tondo, Quique Kierszenbaum,'Whistleblowers allege widespread abuses at Israeli detention camp,' The Guiardian 23 May 2024
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Qiblawi, Tamara (2024-05-10). "Israeli whistleblowers detail horror of shadowy detention facility for Palestinians". CNN. Retrieved 2024-05-12.
- ^ Wilkins, Brett (4 April 2024). "Doctor at Israeli Detention Camp for Gazans Blows Whistle on War Crimes". Common Dreams. Retrieved 13 May 2024.
- ^ Shezaf, Hagar (2023-12-18). "Hundreds of Gazans arrested during war held blindfolded and handcuffed at Israeli base". Haaretz. Retrieved 2024-05-12.
- ^ a b c Shezaf, Hagar; Tov, Michael Hauser (2024-04-04). "Doctor at Israeli field hospital for detained Gazans: 'We are all complicit in breaking the law'". Haaretz. Retrieved 2024-05-14.
- ^ a b c d e Kent, Lauren (2024-04-06). "Israeli doctor says detained Palestinians are undergoing 'routine' amputations for handcuff injuries, Haaretz reports". CNN. Retrieved 2024-05-14.
- ^ a b c Magid, Jacob (May 11, 2024). "US 'deeply concerned' after report alleges Gaza prisoners abused at Israeli facility". The Times of Israel. Retrieved May 14, 2024.
- ^ Ziv, Hadas; Dror, Oneg Ben (April 2024). "MEDICAL ETHICS AND THE DETENTION OF GAZA RESIDENTS SINCE THE START OF THE 2023 WAR: AN ETHICAL OPINION PAPER" (PDF). Physicians for Human Rights in Israel. p. 10. Retrieved May 14, 2024.