IOF soldiers recount how Palestinians were tortured at Sde Teiman
8 Min Read
Israeli volunteers and recruits at Sde Teiman recount the vile mistreatment and abuse enforced on Palestinian prisoners abducted from Gaza and shackled at the concentration camp.
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Palestinian prisoners forced to lay on the ground at the Sde Teiman concentration camp (X/TheCradleMedia)
The harrowing tales from the Sde Teiman concentration camp continue to be exposed as more reports and testimonies highlight the dehumanization of Palestinian prisoners by the Israeli occupation and its forces.
After October 7, data shows that at least 4,500 Palestinians have been abducted from Gaza and taken to Sde Teiman.
While Sde Teiman is notorious for its practices against Palestinian prisoners, the concentration camp continues operating as usual, even after investigations were launched against Israeli occupation soldiers involved in the maltreatment, torture, and sexual abuse of prisoners.
A recent report initially published by Israeli newspaper Haaretz details the acocunts of multiple Israeli settlers, soldiers, and medics who volunteered at the torture camp, relaying the brutal, systematic, and multifaceted forms of psychological, physical, and environmental torture Palestinian prisoners are subjected to and forced to endure.
'Tear them apart'
In Haaretz's report, Israeli occupation soldiers recount what they witnessed during their deployment as prison guards at the Sde Teiman concentration camp, and recall the stories they heard before being transferred, ranging from the beatings the Palestinian prisoners would take, to more excruciating forms of torture they had to endure at the hands and discretion of the occupation forces.
One reservist from the occupied North described the hangars where Palestinians were kept as "dog parks", due to the architecture of the rooms, which was formed of three walls and a fourth fence to keep them visible to the guards.
The occupation soldier said he oversaw two hangars: One included 70 prisoners, while the other held 100. Palestinian prisoners were all blindfolded and seated [on the ground], and none were allowed to peak through their blindfolds, move, or speak, otherwise, it was permitted to "punish them".
Methods of punishment varied, according to the reservist, and ranged from standing still for no less than half an hour, to being beaten with a club.
He recounts an incident during which a female soldier falsely accused a prisoner of peeking at her and "doing something" beneath the "scabies [rough] blankets" they were given during winter. The occupation soldier admits that prisoners would normally scratch their bodies, clarifying that the accused prisoner had been arrested for 20 days and was not allowed to shower or change his clothes.
The prisoner was taken to a private room, bludgeoned, and returned bloodied and bruised. Upon his return, he swore he did not look at the female guard.
The reservist also revealed that despite the horrendous odor coming out of the pens [due to the prevention of hygiene], Israeli guards managed to amuse themselves by filming detainees, ridiculing them, and making jokes about them and their conditions.
A reservist from Tel Aviv said prisoners were allowed to shower for a few minutes twice a week but were never given a change of clothes. He also described one defining incident during his service at Sde Teiman, which would later dictate his decision to leave the camp.
According to the reservist, a force of 10 occupation soldiers would come into the prisoner pens and pull aside 10 prisoners per round, beat them up, then throw them back onto the ground when they are done. He stressed that the beatings would go on for "as long as the soldiers pleased". But the most horrifying incident was when the force barged in and declared they were going to "take the prisoners apart" amusingly. He said the Force 100 soldiers doing the beatings would grab the prisoners and bash their heads against steel doors.
He also said soldiers would sneak into the pens at night, when no one was guarding them, and torment prisoners from Gaza about their lives, their families, and children, and laugh at them as they start crying.
Medical torture at Sde Teiman
An Israeli doctor who served at Sde Teiman also reported on the medical conditions of Palestinian prisoners, saying cases of sepsis, gunshot wounds, and those that required surgery and treatment were unconventionally kept in pens, which violated protocol.
When prisoners were taken for consultations or check ups at the medical facility, they were stripped naked, blindfolded, and forbidden from moving or talking. They could not describe their pains to the medics and could not receive adequate treatment.
The doctor recalled the case of a Gazan prisoner who was shot by the occupation forces only a few hours before being taken to Sde Teiman, noting that it usually takes surgery and at least two days of intensive care before a "regular case" could be discharged from the hospital. However, the Palestinian patient was denied medical treatment and was kept in a tent at the camp.
He also said the conditions the prisoners were subjected to represented a different form of torture than beatings and crushing cigarettes on their skin. According to the doctor, Palestinians were chained from all limbs, even those who suffered from severe injuries. Everyone was shackled to steel beds at all times, forced to remain silent and blindfolded for days, weeks, and months.
The doctor further stated that prisoners were given disposable diapers instead of being allowed to go to the bathroom regularly.
Another nurse volunteering at Sde Teiman justified the use of diapers, saying they were given to prisoners who "could manage without a pot". She also said some other prisoners were given a rubber cover with a tube connected to a bag because they were "more comfortable than wet diapers". Other prisoners were only given bottles.
The nurse also admitted that the conditions at Sde Teiman could be considered torture, but saw it as necessary. She did not seem to have any remorse for the prisoners, saying, "They are terrorists and I have no pity for them. Because of us, because when we behave like that, it hurts us. We must think about ourselves, only about ourselves."
The dehumanization of Palestinians
Several other accounts reveal that newly deployed soldiers, medics, and guards were taught to dehumanize Palestinian prisoners. They are instructed to "not look at them as humans", and the mentality is widely normalized and embraced.
One soldier documented what he heard while being recruited, transcribing what other recruits around him were saying to justify their participation in the dehumanization of Palestinians. Several settlers said they wanted extra money, or that they were in between jobs and the positions at Sde Teiman were suitable for them, while others detailed what they would do to the prisoners once in contact with them. Some explicitly stated that they would beat them up, and others said they would spit on them.
During the Q&A, one participant said "What bothers me is that morally, I don't see myself bringing them food. I can't imagine myself seeing to their needs."
Recruits were assured that prisoners would "not be pampered" at Sde Teiman, and were encouraged to do what was needed in return for "really good pay" and additional benefits and rewards. In other words, "Israel" would monetarily motivate its forces to abuse Palestinain prisoners.
Sde Teiman usually allows "sadists" and "Arab-haters" who enjoy torturing and humiliating the prisoners to volunteer, one reservist said. While prisoners starved, guards would host barbecues on facility grounds. The reservist said he was not comfortable eating good food while Palestinians were not allowed to eat or drink, to which one of the guards said, "Why? For me, it's a lot tastier like this, when they're suffering."
Moreover, he shared how certain volunteers would claim a prisoner was dangerous, even though they could not actually harm the soldier because they were tied up, blindfolded, and weak, to vent their anger out on them, as an idea of amusement, and savagely beat them up with rubber clubs.
One case detailed the beating of a 40-year-old Palestinian man with a club against his back. He did not attempt to defend himself, but tried to cover his neck to avoid a fatal blow. As he was consistently hit and thrown around, his blindfold slipped under his eyes, which angered the occupation officer, triggering escalatory beatings until the prisoner's eyes bulged out his sockets.
As the officer continued bludgeoning the prisoner, the latter cried and kept asking "Why? Why?"
