JERUSALEM — Israel’s military on Thursday said it was dropping charges against five soldiers accused of sexually assaulting a Palestinian detainee in an alleged assault partially caught on camera.
The decision closed a case that has bitterly divided the country since the soldiers were arrested in 2024 at the notorious Sde Teiman military prison, prompting anger from members of the far-right government and hard-line ultranationalists who violently overran the prison in protest. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed Thursday’s announcement, while human rights groups accused the military of whitewashing one of the gravest instances of abuse in the country’s network of wartime prisons.