Israeli military chief Eyal Zamir has authorised five soldiers accused of sexually assaulting a Palestinian detainee to return to reserve duty, with some already deployed in combat roles, in a decision that has reignited fierce debate over accountability within the Israeli military justice system.
The five soldiers, all members of Force 100 — a unit assigned to guard military prisons — had faced charges of aggravated assault and causing severe injury following an incident at the Sde Teiman detention facility. A military indictment described soldiers stabbing a Palestinian detainee with a sharp object near his rectum. The victim sustained cracked ribs, a punctured lung and an internal tear, injuries so severe that a doctor at the facility, Dr. Yoel Donchin, initially assumed they had been inflicted by a rival armed group.
Footage broadcast by Israeli television showed soldiers abusing the Palestinian man, and the case rapidly became one of the most divisive in Israel’s recent history. Despite that, Military Advocate General Itay Offir moved to drop the indictments entirely, citing what he described as ‘complexities in the evidentiary structure’ and ‘difficulties’ arising from the detainee’s subsequent release to the Gaza Strip.
An Israeli army statement confirmed that the ongoing command-level investigation does not prevent the soldiers from continuing to serve, and indicated the inquiry would be completed ‘as soon as possible.’ Israeli Army Radio reported that some of the reinstated reservists have already returned to active duty, including in frontline combat positions.
Amnesty International condemned the decision to drop charges, framing it as emblematic of a broader pattern of impunity. The organisation noted that since the start of Israel’s military operations in Gaza, only a single Israeli soldier has been sentenced for torturing a Palestinian detainee — a figure that rights groups argue reflects systemic failures in military accountability.
The Sde Teiman case does not stand in isolation. A February report by the Committee to Protect Journalists documented accounts from dozens of formerly detained Palestinian journalists who described routine beatings, starvation and sexual assault while held in Israeli custody. Palestinians released from Israeli detention more broadly have reported widespread abuse, allegations that have drawn sustained international scrutiny and calls for independent investigation.
The reinstatement of the five soldiers deepens concerns about whether Israel’s military justice apparatus is capable of holding its own personnel accountable for alleged abuses against Palestinian detainees. Critics argue that the evidentiary rationale offered by the Military Advocate General — that the victim’s return to Gaza complicated the prosecution — effectively rewards the conditions that make accountability difficult to achieve.
The Israeli military has maintained that the internal inquiry remains active and that reinstatement to service is a separate administrative matter from the disciplinary process. Supporters of the soldiers have argued the charges were politically motivated and that the men were acting under the pressures of wartime detention operations.
For human rights organisations, however, the outcome sends a troubling signal. With international legal scrutiny of Israeli military conduct intensifying and multiple bodies documenting alleged abuses in detention facilities, the closure of one of the most high-profile individual cases without a conviction is likely to fuel further calls for external oversight mechanisms that bypass the military’s internal review processes.
