EU, US denounce alleged sexual abuse and torture of Palestinian prisoners by Israeli troops

The European Union joined the United States on Thursday in expressing horror at allegations, backed up by video footage, that Israeli soldiers tortured and sexually abused Palestinian detainees.

“The EU is gravely concerned by the allegations of human rights violations and abuses, including torture and sexual abuse of Palestinian detainees at the Sde Teiman military facility in Israel and elsewhere,” Peter Stano, a spokesperson for the bloc’s diplomatic service, told POLITICO in a statement.

Brussels also called on Israel to open its prisons to human rights observers after a video, seen by POLITICO, began circulating that appears to show one detainee being sexually assaulted and others lying face down with their hands behind their heads.

Stano added that the EU “has repeatedly called on Israel to ensure that all those arrested or detained are treated in line with international human rights and international humanitarian law and standards … irrespective of the gravity of the crimes of which the detainees are accused.”

He also called on Israel to allow Red Cross humanitarian workers to visit prisons where Palestinians are held. 

On Tuesday, Israel’s Channel 12 news aired surveillance footage that appears to show Israeli soldiers sexually assaulting a Palestinian prisoner at the Sde Teiman facility in southern Israel.

Brussels also called on Israel to open its prisons to human rights observers after a video. | Fadel Senna/Getty Images

In late July, several Israel Defense Forces troops working as guards at Sde Teiman were detained by military police in a case relating to the abuse of a prisoner at the facility, according to Israeli media. Following the arrests, a mob attempted to storm a different base where the detained soldiers were being held, according to the IDF. Multiple far-right Israeli lawmakers appeared to be among those in the crowd, footage from the scene showed.

POLITICO has contacted to the Israel Defense Forces for comment. The IDF in May denied similar allegations of systemic abuse at the Sde Teiman facility.

U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller on Wednesday said that the allegations should “be investigated fully by the government of Israel (and) by the IDF.

“We have seen the video, and reports of sexual abuse of detainees are horrific,” Miller said. “There ought to be zero tolerance for sexual abuse, rape of any detainee, period.

Israeli authorities have long faced accusations of mistreatment and systemic abuse of Palestinian prisoners. A report published last month by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner of Human Right found evidence of “a range of appalling acts” enacted against detainees.

About 9,500 Palestinians are detained in Israeli prisons and military bases, and at least 53 Palestinians have died in Israeli custody in the 10 months since the Oct. 7, according to UN figures.