A military base in the Negev desert, roughly 50 kilometers south of Tel Aviv, has been called by Israeli media as “Israel’s Guantanamo Bay.” The name is Sde Teimam. What has been documented there since October 7, 2023, is not a controversy but a record of systematic torture, sexual violence, and deliberate production of permanent disability, carried out against Palestinian detainees, most of whom were never charged with any crime. This is a disability justice issue, I repeat its a disability justice issue, and it has not received nearly enough attention
What Sde Teiman is
In December 2023, the Knesset passed the Unlawful Combatants Law, which partially converted the military base into a detention facility. It is divided into two sections: an enclosure where up to 200 inmates are blindfolded and handcuffed in cages, and a field hospital with tents where dozens of handcuffed captives are maintained.
The people inside are not considered prisoners of war with legal rights. They are held under a law that permits for 45 days of custody without an arrest warrant before being transferred to the Israeli Prison Service. In practice, many have been held far longer. Since October 7, more than 100 new structures, including large tents and hangars, appeared within the Sde Teiman desert camp, indicating a significant expansion of the facility.
What has been documented inside
Whistleblowers told CNN that Palestinian inmates were kept fully naked, blindfolded, and unable to move. One medic who worked at Sde Teiman recalled his experience treating patients there. “Imagine yourself unable to move, unable to see what is going on, and fully naked. This leaves you completely exposed. I believe that is something that borders on, if not crosses over, psychological torture.”
The same medic recalled being asked to conduct medical procedures on detainees for which he was unqualified, often without anesthesia. When captives complained of discomfort, they were given paracetamol.
Whistleblowers reported a nightly routine in which guards would release huge dogs on sleeping inmates and throw a sound grenade into the cage as troops barged in. One formerly incarcerated Palestinian, al-Ran, described it as “the nightly torture”: “While we were cabled, they freed the dogs, who would pass between us and trample on us. You’d be lying on your belly, face against the ground. You can’t move, yet they’re moving over you.”
The sexual violence at Sde Teiman is widespread and specific. Several Palestinian inmates described being interrogated with metal sticks put into their anuses, as well as electric shocks. In late July 2024, a Palestinian prisoner was hospitalized with a perforated bowel, serious anus injuries, lung damage, and fractured ribs.
In January 2026, B’Tselem documented the case of Tamer Qarmut, a 41-year-old disabled man captured during a raid on Kamal Adwan Hospital in November 2023, where his family had sought refuge. During his first 24 hours in prison, he was violently assaulted, which caused lasting hearing damage, mauled by a dog, and raped by a soldier.
Read that again. A disabled man. Held for two years. Without charge. Released with permanent hearing damage.
Torture as the production of disability
At CripJustice, we make it clear: what is occurring at Sde Teiman is not collateral damage. It is the purposeful creation of disability via systematic torture. B’Tselem’s August 2024 report “Welcome to Hell,” based on the testimonies of 55 released Palestinians, revealed that detainees were subjected to harsh arbitrary violence, sexual assault, humiliation and degradation, deliberate starvation, forced lack of hygieneAccording to data from Physicians for Human Rights Israel, from October 2023 to July 2025, 52 Palestinians died within Israeli military facilities and 41 died inside Israeli prisons. Among those, at least 36 detainees died inside Sde Teiman alone.
These are not deaths from pre-existing conditions. They are the predictable outcome of a system that withholds medical care, inflicts physical injury, and treats human beings as objects to be broken, sleep deprivation, denial of medical care, and seizure of all personal belongings.
According to Physicians for Human Rights Israel, 52 Palestinians died in Israeli military institutions and 41 in Israeli prisons between October 2023 and July 2025. At least 36 of those captives died in Sde Teiman alone.
These are not fatalities due to pre-existing conditions. They are the predicted outcome of a system that denies medical treatment, causes bodily harm, and views humans as things to be broken.
No accountability. Charges dropped. Whistleblowers punished.
In July 2024, nine Israeli soldiers were held for interrogation after a video surfaced showing a Palestinian inmate being sexually assaulted at Sde Teiman. Five were indicted. On March 12, 2026, the Israeli Military Advocate General dropped the case against all five soldiers accused of sexually abusing and torturing a Palestinian detainee, citing the “complexity of the evidence” and the inmate’s release under a ceasefire deal.
The detainee’s release was used to dismiss the charges against those who tortured him.
Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, the military’s senior prosecutor, was fired in October 2025 after allegations that she released the footage documenting the assault. The individual who attempted to disclose the mistreatment lost her job. The persons who committed the abuse received no punishment.
This is the same trend that we described in our Palestinian Prisoner Day article. Torture is documented. International bodies have condemned it. Charges are filed, then dismissed. The whistleblowers are punished. And the facility stays operating.
The connection to the death penalty law
Two weeks before Palestinian Prisoner Day, Israel approved legislation making death by hanging the default punishment for Palestinians convicted in military tribunals, with a 96% conviction rate, based mostly on confessions obtained under torture. Executive Director Yuli Novak added, “The Sde Teiman detention center is only the tip of the iceberg. As we speak, thousands of Palestinians are being kept in deplorable circumstances and subjected to unending brutality.”
The death penalty statute and Sde Teiman are not unrelated tales. They are the same narrative. One is the formal legal framework. The other is physical infrastructure. Together, they depict a system in which Palestinian bodies are exposed to maximal pain with minimal accountability, and that system is now supported by legislation that makes execution the default consequence.
CripJustice brings together what has previously been divided. Torture at Sde Teiman causes a handicap. Denial of medical attention causes death. The dropping of accusations results in impunity. The enactment of a death sentence statute directed solely at Palestinians provides the legal foundation to accomplish what Sde Teiman began.
Sde Teiman isn’t a scandal. It’s a policy. And it is still operating.
Sources
Sde Teiman detention camp — Wikipedia
Sde Teiman: Israeli whistleblowers detail abuse of Palestinians — CNN, May 2024
“Welcome to Hell”: Sde Teiman is only the tip of the iceberg — B’Tselem, August 5, 2024
Sexual and gender-based violence against Palestinians during the Gaza war — Wikipedia
