Description

Photos: Published by Haaretz
The Sde Teiman air base. Credit: Eliyahu Hershkovitz

Detainees at the Sde Teiman facility.

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The state will be required to address issues like medical treatment, punishment methods and cuffing conditions for Palestinians at the Sde Teiman detention facility, despite informing the High Court that it would remove all detainees from the site

by Bar Peleg for Haaretz
Jun 23, 2024 8:25 pm IDT

Israel's High Court of Justice ordered the state to provide details of the conditions under which Gazan prisoners are held in the Sde Teiman detention center in southern Israel, despite the state's declaration that it intends to empty the facility.

The state will be required to address issues like meals, medical treatment, hygiene, punishment methods and cuffing conditions.

The decision was made by the interim High Court President Uzi Vogelman, Justice Daphne Barak-Erez, and Justice Ofer Grosskopf, in response to the petition demanding to close the Sde Teiman facility filed by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel and other human rights organization.

Attorney Roni Pali from the Association for Civil Rights in Israel stated that "the conditions in Sde Teiman are inhumane, and do not reach the lowest standard of incarceration by law. [The facility] cannot continue to function as a detention center for a moment longer, and not for receiving, investigating or sorting prisoners either. Imprisonment in Sde Teiman could be considered a war crime."

The facility was established shortly after the start of the war, intended to incarcerate Hamas members until they are transferred to jail.

At the beginning of June, the state informed the High Court that it would decrease the facility's activity, turning it into a short-term facility for arrested Gazans. Afterward, the state announced that by the end of the month, all the detainees would be removed from Sde Teiman, and transferred to other Israeli prisons or returned to Gaza.

The decision was made despite the opposition of National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who is responsible for Israel's prison service. According to the state's announcement, the facility will go back to operating for its initial purpose as an initial screening facility for security detainees from the Gaza Strip.

Before the state began transferring the detainees, around 700 people were held in Sde Teiman, of which three were hospitalized in a medical facility adjacent to the prison.

In December, Haaretz revealed that the Sde Teiman holds prisoners in blindfolds and handcuffs within fenced compounds, and that they keep the light on all through the night. Testimonials from released prisoners claim they were subject to severe violence from soldiers and investigators.

According to data published by the Israeli army, the Israel Defense Forces is conducting a criminal investigation against soldiers in the deaths of 48 Palestinians, including 36 detainees from Sde Teiman. Most of the deaths were of detainees captured in the Gaza Strip.

In April, Haaretz published a letter written by a facility doctor which documented the prisoners' conditions: being fed through a straw, forced to use diapers, and permanently handcuffed - which are illegal. The doctor also mentioned that there were cases of amputation due to handcuffing wounds, which he described as a "routine occurrence."