Palestinian prisoner raped by Israeli guards in notorious facility: Watchdog

A Palestinian prisoner was reportedly raped by Israeli guards in a notorious facility for detaining Palestinians, set up after the start of the regime’s genocidal war against the Gaza Strip.

The Palestinian Prisoners Club (PPC), a watchdog, and several Israeli media reported the development on Monday.

“This is a new rape crime committed by a group of prison guards against a prisoner in Sde Teiman camp (in the Negev desert),” Abdullah Al-Zaghari, head of the PPC, told AFP.

The victim suffered serious injuries as a result of the abuse and can no longer walk, according to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz and the public broadcaster KAN reported.

An estimated 9,700 Palestinian prisoners are held in Israeli facilities.

Inmates repeatedly report torture and sexual abuse.

However, the regime has significantly expanded its wave of detentions in the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank since October 7, when it dragged that coastal strip into the war.

Since then, human rights statements and prisoner reports have been replete with reports of increased torture by the regime’s forces, including food and water deprivation, intimidation, electric shocks, mock executions and brutal sexual abuse.

Following Monday’s reports, Israeli military police reportedly raided the Sde Teiman center as part of the investigation into the case and arrested ten soldiers stationed at the facility.

The police forces encountered resistance from troops, who barricaded themselves and used pepper spray to avoid arrest.

However, the regime’s extremist finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, described the suspects as “heroic warriors.”

Itamar Ben-Gvir, another far-right politician who is responsible for the prisons where Palestinians are detained, also called the Israeli troops the “best heroes” and described the arrests as “shameful”.