US condemns Israeli TV after it airs footage of sexual abuse of Palestinian prisoners

Sexual abuse allegations Palestinian prisoners The actions of Israeli military personnel were “appalling,” the United States said, after a video broadcast on Israeli news heightened concerns Criticism continues American Allies Conduct in the Gaza War.

Earlier this week, U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller responded to questions about a video broadcast by Israel’s Channel 12, the country’s most-watched commercial television station, that allegedly Showing abuse A Palestinian man was killed at the Sde Teiman military base. Palestinians detained Since October.

“We have seen the videos and the reports of sexual abuse of detainees are appalling,” Miller said, adding that the Israeli government should conduct a “full” investigation into the reports.

He added: “There should be zero tolerance for sexual abuse and rape of any detainee.”

The White House also said Rape, torture and ill-treatment “Deeply concerned.”

Spokesperson Karina Jean-Pierre added: “We have been clear and consistent in saying to Israel that it must treat all detainees humanely and with dignity, in accordance with international law, must respect the human rights of detainees and must ensure accountability for any abuses or violations.”

This is the first time U.S. officials have mentioned a video of the alleged sexual assault.

Read more from NBC News:

NBC News has not confirmed the details of the reported abuse or whether the circulated video is footage of the incident, but the allegations came to light in July amid a raging controversy over the Israeli military’s mistreatment of Palestinian detainees. Charge a reservist and launched an investigation into allegations that nine other soldiers had abused Palestinian detainees.

A doctor at Sde Teiman Hospital was interviewed by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz Express shock the severity of the man’s injuries.

The IDF confirmed on Thursday that Five soldiers remain in custody over allegations of “serious abuse” and investigations are ongoing.

“The military court accepted the request of the military prosecution in its entirety and stated in its ruling that there was evidence that there were reasonable grounds to suspect that the acts were committed,” the military court said in a written statement.

A report A report released on Monday by B’Tselem, an Israeli human rights organization based in Jerusalem, said that “soldiers or prison guards have repeatedly used varying degrees of sexual violence against Palestinian detainees as an additional punishment measure,” citing witness accounts that the sexual violence included “hitting the genitals,” “using metal tools and batons to cause genital pain” and “gang sexual violence and attacks by a group of prison guards or soldiers.”

One detainee cited by Bzelem said a member of the Israel Prison Service’s initial response unit tried to sodomize him with a carrot while others recorded the act on their cell phones.

“I screamed in pain and fear,” the affidavit reads. “This lasted for about three minutes.” The detainee, who was detained in 2022, said the incident took place on October 29, 2023.

The number of detentions has surged since Hamas launched a terrorist attack on Israel on October 7, which killed 1,200 people and kidnapped 240 people, some of whom are believed to be Sexual abuseAccording to Gaza health officials, about 40,000 Palestinians have been killed and thousands injured since the Gaza war, which was sparked by a Hamas invasion, and the vast majority of Gaza’s residents have been forced to flee their homes.

A report The UNRWA report, released in April, also detailed cases of sexual abuse of detainees by Israeli forces, including sodomizing them with “something like a hot metal rod.”

In May, the UN special rapporteur on torture, Alice Gill Edwards, called on Israel to investigate torture and other inhumane treatment of Palestinian detainees, including sexual abuse.

“How we treat others in times of crisis reflects the extent to which we have internalized human rights,” Edwards said. “No circumstance, no matter how exceptional, can ever justify torture or ill-treatment.”

According to the United Nations, Thousands of PalestiniansIncluding children detention Israel has detained more than 1,000 Palestinians and at least 53 have died since the war began on Oct. 7. The Palestinian Prisoners Committee, part of the Palestinian Authority and based in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, estimated that there were about 9,900 Palestinians in Israeli jails as of early August.

Data from Israel Prison Service Data cited by B’Tselem showed that as of March, a total of 3,615 Palestinians were held in administrative detention. In addition to the IPS, the Israeli military also holds detainees, and when asked how many Palestinians it had arrested since October 7, the IDF told NBC News that it had “nothing to say.”

On July 29, Israeli authorities announced that they had detained reservists suspected of abusing prisoners, and shortly thereafter hundreds of prove Protests against their detention took place in front of Sde Teiman and Beit Lid, where the soldiers were allegedly being held.

While the reservist arrests have attracted widespread attention, B’Tselem believes that the abuse of Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons is systematic.

During a heated council meeting in July, one councillor asked whether it was legal to “insert a stick into a person’s rectum”.

“Yes!” shouted Hanoch Milwidsky, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party. If the detainees were Hamas fighters, he said, “then we can do anything legal! We can do anything!”

Netanyahu has not yet responded publicly to Milvidsky’s remarks, and his office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on them or the case as a whole. The prime minister also has not commented on the alleged abuse, other than to call for calm amid protests against the arrests of Israeli reservists and condemn those who broke into the base where they are believed to be held.