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Photos: Published by Haaretz
Detainees at the Sde Teiman facility.

Protesters in front of Israel's Sde Teiman detention facility, in April. Credit: Eli Hershkovitz.

The Sde Teiman base where Gazan detainees are held. Credit: Eliyahu Hershkovitz.

Supreme Court justices Uzi Vogelman, Isaac Amit, Noam Sohlberg, Daphne Barak-Erez, and Anat Baron. Credit: Ohad Zwigenberg.

Detainees from the Gaza Strip held at the Sde Teiman base, in December.
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After a petition was brought to Israel's Supreme Court about the conditions of detention at the Sde Teiman facility, justices demanded the state provide answers about inmates' conditions. The state informed the court that they were in the process of transferring inmates and improving conditions

by Bar Peleg for Haaretz
Jun 5, 2024

The Israeli government informed the Supreme Court on Wednesday that it will immediately limit the activity carried out in the Sde Teiman detention center in southern Israel, turning it into a short-term holding facility and restricting the number of Palestinians detained there to 200.

In a reply submitted in preparation for the court's hearing on the petitions against the facility's operation on Wednesday, the state noted that it had started transferring the detainees to other facilities on Wednesday and that the army will improve the conditions at Sde Teiman.

In its reply, submitted to Justices Uzi Vogelman, Daphne Barak-Erez and Ofer Grosskopf, the state noted that the Sde Teiman facility is intended "to serve as a reception, investigation and preliminary sorting facility for holding detainees for a short duration only" according to the Unlawful Combatant Law and that the facility will be modified to accommodate "its original purpose."

The state's reply also noted that the transfer of 500 detainees to the Ofer and Ktzi'ot military prisons started on Wednesday to immediately reduce the number of held Palestinians in Sde Teiman and that it should be completed within ten days.

"The IDF is constantly working to improve the conditions of incarceration, and the transfer of the 500 detainees is expected to bring about significant improvement," the reply said, adding that "actions are being taken to upgrade [Sde Teiman's] health facility while establishing a new complex."

Last week, the Israeli military's Chief of Staff, Lt. Gen. Herzl Halevi, appointed a committee to examine the conditions of incarceration in the facility.

During Wednesday's hearing, the justices demanded the state provide them with answers concerning the inmates' holding conditions, the food that is being provided, the health conditions at the facility and the deaths of the detainees while imprisoned.

The justices asked if the state would commit that the detainees would be treated according to law. The state's representative, attorney Aner Helman, said that a response will be issued in three days.

Justice Daphne Barak-Erez told the petitioners' representative, attorney Oded Feller, that "the state acknowledges that the current situation cannot go on and this is what you demanded." Justice Uzi Vogelman, the acting president of the Supreme Court, added that the court does not intend to dismiss the case but to be updated on the changes, and regarding the petitioners' claim that the facility is unsuitable to hold detainees.

The hearing, which was also attended by foreign diplomats, saw the participation of the representative of the right-wing NGO Israel Law Center ("Shurat HaDin") in an amicus curiae status, who demanded the court to dismiss the petition.

"The [petitioners' so-called] facts are based on newspaper scraps with clear agenda, and on Hamas' or one of its proxies' claims, such as UNRWA," claimed an Israel Law Center representative.

Justice Barak-Erez replied that "the court conducts judicial review," and Justice Vogelman added that "The facility is under the state's control. If the state wants to claim otherwise – it can."

At the end of the hearing, lawyer Roni Pelli from the Association for Civil Rights in Israel told Haaretz that there seems to be no dispute between the petitioners and the state.

"The conditions now do not meet the provisions of the law, that is why the changes are being made, and the state saw fit to inform about the establishment of the committee and the removal of most of the people from the facility," Pelli said. However, she clarified that from the organization's point of view, "as long as the conditions do not comply with the law, people must not be held there."

The Sde Teiman detention center was established immediately after the outbreak of the war in Gaza to hold Hamas terrorists, including those who took part in the atrocities of October 7, until they could be moved to other Israeli prisons.

Shortly after, the Knesset approved an amendment to the law on holding detainees that specified the conditions in which they could be held. Since the start of the Israeli army's ground operation in the Strip, most of the Gazans who have been arrested have been sent to Sde Teiman to be investigated for involvement in terrorism. Those cleared of suspicion are then sent back to the Strip.

The petition submitted two weeks ago by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel and other human rights groups, claimed that if Sde Teiman is to be regarded as a "detention center" – a legal category under the Unlawful Combatant Law – then the site must ensure that all detainees are held under adequate conditions that do not harm their dignity and health, and follow Israeli and international law.

The human rights groups further claimed that the severe violations of the detainees' rights at the facility make their ongoing deprivation of liberty in Sde Teiman unconstitutional, and do not allow the incarceration of further detainees.

The number of detainees in Sde Teiman is unknown, but according to estimates, it is more than 1,000 men. As revealed by Haaretz in December, detainees held in Sde Teiman are blindfolded and handcuffed for most of the day, and the lights are kept on at the facility throughout the night.

According to data released by the IDF last week, the army is conducting a criminal investigation against soldiers concerning 48 deaths of Palestinians held in Israeli custody, most of whom were detained in the Gaza Strip. No charges have been filed nor any investigations were closed in any of the death cases. 36 deaths occurred in Sde Teiman.

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