THE Israeli military is dropping charges against five soldiers who were accused of sexually abusing a Palestinian detainee, despite the incident being partially caught on camera.

It announced the decision at a time when most attention is focused on the US-Israeli war against Iran.

The incident occurred at Sde Teiman, a facility set up to hold people rounded up in Gaza during Israel’s war against the Palestinians.

A leaked video of the abuse was aired last year by Israel’s Channel 12, apparently showing an incident in which the soldiers sodomised the Palestinian detainee from Gaza with a knife. He was seriously injured and required surgery.

Israel’s arrest of the soldiers in 2024 prompted fury from ultranationalists, who violently overran the Sde Teiman prison facility in protest. 

The government joined in the uproar, eventually leading to the resignation last year of the military’s top legal official, who had filed the indictment and authorised the leak of the video to the TV station.