Warning: This story contains a description of alleged sexual abuse.
Far-right Israeli protesters stormed a military base in a show of support for soldiers accused of severely mistreating a Palestinian prisoner there.
Large crowds gathered in front of the Sde Teiman complex after Israeli military police entered the site to detain the reservists, who are now subject to an official investigation.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a statement strongly condemning the incident and calling for “an immediate calming of passions”.
Protesters also stormed a second military base where reservists were taken for questioning, but a police spokeswoman said officers were able to clear it.
Sde Teiman, near Beersheba in southern Israel, has for months been at the center of reports of serious abuse against Gaza detainees.
According to local media reports, at least nine Israeli soldiers at the base are accused of abusing the Palestinian detainee, an alleged Hamas fighter who was captured in Gaza.
He is said to have been hospitalized after what Israeli media describe as severe sexual abuse and injuries to his anus that left him unable to walk.
The Israeli military said its attorney general ordered an inquiry “following suspicion of substantial abuse of a detainee.”
The Palestinian Authority (PA) Detainee Affairs Commission, based in the West Bank, called on the international community to intervene urgently by carrying out a UN-mandated investigation.
On Monday, dozens of protesters, including far-right MPs from Israel’s governing coalition, stormed the base’s gate while others tried to scale the fence, shouting “we will not abandon our friends, certainly not to the terrorists.”
Some soldiers at the base reportedly used pepper spray against military police officers who arrived to detain the reservists.
The Israeli military chief of staff, Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi, said the raid on Sde Tieman was “extremely serious and against the law”.
“We are in the middle of a war and actions of this type put the security of the State at risk,” he said.
“I strongly condemn the incident and are working to restore order to the base.”
Protesters also entered the Beit Lid military base in central Israel, where the accused reservists were taken for interrogation.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said the investigation into the soldiers’ conduct must be allowed to continue, adding that “even in times of anger, the law applies to everyone.”
However, some Israeli politicians condemned the arrest of the reservists. Itamar Ben-Gvir, the far-right National Security Minister, called his detention “nothing short of shameful.”
Since the Hamas attack on October 7, Israeli authorities have arrested and detained thousands of Palestinians, often without legal representation.
The BBC has already spoken to medical professionals at a field hospital in Sde Teiman, who claimed that the detainees were blindfolded, permanently chained to their beds and forced to wear diapers instead of having access to a bathroom.
Last month, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz published allegations made by a Sde Teiman doctor that two prisoners had leg amputations due to handcuff injuries. The BBC has not independently verified the claims.
Detainees told journalists and United Nations officials that they were beaten and attacked. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has denied systematic abuses.
Many Gazans detained by the Israeli army are released without charge after interrogation. Amnesty International this month called on Israel to end the indefinite detention of Gaza Palestinians and what it called “rampant torture” in its prisons.
