Military Police raid detention facility, clash with soldiers

Masked Military Police investigators raided the Sde Teiman Camp where Hamas Nukhba terrorists are being held and detained eight IDF reservists suspected of abusing a detained terrorist. The suspicions were reportedly based on medical findings in a hospital indicating the terrorist had suffered trauma to the buttocks while in custody.

Physical clashes broke out at the scene between the MPs and the reservists. During the arrests, several of the soldiers barricaded themselves in the base and refused to go into custody. The suspects are from Force 100, a special Military Police Corps unit for high-risk prison facilities.

One of the soldiers at the facility wrote: "I am posting this with tears of fury and frustration - the IDF is against IDF soldiers. The Military Police Investigations Unit arrived wearing masks to arrest soldiers from the Force 100 unit tasked with guarding terrorists from Hamas's elite Nukhba force, seized their weapons, took their cellphones, and are violently arresting them using pepper spray. During the raid on the reserves force, the soldiers' guns, phones, and personal belongings were taken. The force is bunkered down in the base and is unwilling to cooperate with this disgrace. In recent months soldiers have been telling me that the Military Police is looking to get them and breathing down their necks. It was expected. Part of the team was already arrested and taken for interrogation."

Other members of Force 100 were filmed saying they would free any soldiers taken into custody by force, and that they would refuse to carry out their tasks until their comrades were released.

The IDF stated: "Due to a suspicion of severe abuse of a detainee who was held in the detention facility in Sde Teiman, a Military Police investigation was opened by the order of the Military Prosecution."

Coalition MKs walked out of a Finance Committee meeting on the state budget to protest the raid. In addition, the Otzma Yehudit party announced that their Ministers and MKs were making their way to the detention facility to demand the end of the "disgraceful arrest of IDF soldiers there."

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir commented on the incident: "The scene of Military Police coming to arrest our best heroes in Sde Teiman is nothing less than shameful. I recommend that the Defense Minister, Chief of Staff, and military authorities support the soldiers and learn from the Israel Prisons Service, summer camp and tolerance for terrorists are over. The soldiers need complete backing."

A few hours after the first publication of the incident, hundreds of Israelis, including reservists, parents of soldiers, and members of coalition parties held a large protest both at Sde Teiman and nearby Beit Lid to block the entrance to the bases where the soldiers were being held.

A large group of protesters, including MK Zvi Sukkot (Religious Zionist Party) also breached the gates of the base and confronted soldiers stationed there, attempting to march past the entrance and surround the building where the Force 100 soldiers are being held. Additional protesters are on the way and attempting to plan a full night of demonstrations against the investigations.

The Military Police forces in the base have placed roadblocks to prevent the protesters from penetrating any farther into the base. Israel Police forces called to help disperse the crowd have recently begun to arrive, drawing criticism from the IDF. One military source commented to Galei Tzahal "MKs got here from Jerusalem and broke into our base faster than even one police car managed to get to the scene."