Israel to phase out use of military detention camp

PHOTO CAPTION: Israeli soldiers detain a Palestinian man during an Israeli raid in Deir al-Ghusun, in the Israeli occupied West Bank, May 4, 2024. REUTERS/Raneen Sawafta

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel is phasing out the use of a military-run detention camp for Palestinians captured during the Gaza war where rights groups alleged there has been abuse of inmates, justice officials said on Wednesday.

State attorneys told the Supreme Court that inmates held at the Sde Teiman site, which was opened after Hamas' Oct. 7 assault on southern Israel that sparked the war in Gaza, would be gradually transported to permanent holding facilities.

The transfers have started and most prisoners would be relocated within a couple of weeks. This would allow conditions to improve in the meantime, they said.

State attorney Aner Helman, responding to a petition filed by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, told the court that 700 inmates had already been moved to Ofer, a military stockade in the West Bank. Another 500 were slated to be transferred in the coming weeks, leaving 200 at Sde Teiman whose future was yet to be decided.

Israel's military is investigating the deaths of Palestinians captured during the Gaza war as well as the Sde Teiman facility.



(Reporting by Dan Williams and Ari Rabinovitch; Editing by Alex Richardson)