Officials from the US Agency for International Development (USAid) have been attending daily meetings to discuss humanitarian aid to Gaza at an Israeli military base where Israeli guards have allegedly tortured Palestinian detainees, according to a report on Monday by The Guardian.
Established after the 7 October Hamas-led attack on southern Israel and the subsequent war on Gaza, the Sde Teiman base became a makeshift centre to hold Palestinian detainees. Since October 2023, more than 4,000 Palestinians from Gaza have been detained by the Israeli military there, often held without charge or evidence of wrongdoing.
In April, an unnamed doctor described in harrowing detail the conditions at the facility, including limb amputation due to handcuff injuries and prisoners forced to defecate in diapers.
According to the UN, at least 27 Palestinian detainees have died in Israeli custody since the war, including at Sde Teiman. Officers at the facility told The New York Times that 35 Palestinians detained there since October 2023 had died either at the facility or after being brought to nearby hospitals.
One of the first photos leaked from the notorious army base was that of Ibrahim Salem, who previously spoke to MEE about his horrific experience in detention, which he said included rape, electrocution and frequent beatings.
Ohhhh… this whole thing just routinely gives me new moments of feeling utter neausea at what our government is doing.
I knew the US war machine was capable of great brutality, but I honestly didn’t expect it to be so strangely cruel in it. It feels so strangely malicious and purposeful. Why? Is passive enabling of genocide not enough? Must they participate so deliberately?
Again, I find myself at a loss for words.