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Israeli army drops charges against soldiers caught on video raping Palestinian detainee

March 13, 2026

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The Israeli military has dropped charges against five reservists who tortured and raped a Palestinian detainee at the Sde Teiman detention center, after Military Advocate General Maj. Gen. Itai Ofir ordered the case dismissed on 12 March.

According to the Israeli army statement, prosecutors dropped the indictment against the five soldiers because of “exceptional circumstances, evidentiary complications, and procedural obstacles” that made it difficult to continue the case.

BREAKING: In a bombshell decision, Israel’s Military Advocate General Itai Ofir has dropped charges against five Israeli soldiers accused of sexually abusing a Palestinian detainee at the Sde Teiman detention facility in 2024. pic.twitter.com/NujCjx8PD4

— Ihab Hassan (@IhabHassane) March 12, 2026

Military authorities said the detainee at the center of the prosecution is currently located in Gaza, arguing that his situation created additional legal difficulties for pursuing the charges.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office welcomed the decision, calling the case “the blood libel known as the ‘Sde Teiman affair’ against the fighters of Force 100,” and saying it had “smeared Israel’s reputation around the world in an unprecedented way.”

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz also supported the cancellation, saying that “justice has been done.”

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir likewise praised the move, highlighting that “Those who need to be held accountable for this grave affair are those officials in the legal system who took part in this criminal conduct and damaged the good name of IDF soldiers.”

Here’s Meir Shitrit, who raped a Palestinian detainee on camera, being trotted out as a hero on Israeli national TV

Israeli reservists staged riots in his defense, and the lawyer who tried to prosecute him is now under house arrest

The sickest society pic.twitter.com/Tj024c8ST7 https://t.co/ILnZvxsSFI

— Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) March 12, 2026

The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel accused the military legal system of obscuring clear evidence of abuse, stating, “The condition in which the detainee arrived at the hospital after being attacked in the detention facility leaves no room for doubt as to the acts committed against him and their severity.”

The group added that security camera footage “clearly indicates that these [acts] were inflicted on him by the guards, who abused him with blood-curdling cruelty for a long time.”

Medical records cited in the original indictment reportedly documented broken ribs and a rectal tear sustained by the detainee while held at Sde Teiman.

Back in January, Israeli rights group B’Tselem released a report titled Living Hell, documenting the systemic torture across Israeli prison facilities holding Palestinian detainees.

Based on testimony from released prisoners, the report detailed widespread abuse carried out by prison guards, soldiers, and Shin Bet personnel, including rape, forced anal penetration with objects, beatings to the genitals, starvation, electric shocks, and denial of medical care.

Former detainees described being burned with cigarettes and acid, deprived of water for days, and subjected to relentless beatings and extreme noise torture.

B’Tselem said the prison system “functions de facto as a torture camp,” where Palestinians, many held without trial under administrative detention or the Israeli designation of “unlawful combatants,” are routinely subjected to deliberate and sustained abuse.