Israeli military drops charges against soldiers charged with abusing Palestinian prisoner

JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli military says it is dropping charges against five soldiers who were accused of sexually abusing a Palestinian detainee in an encounter partially caught on camera.

The army announced the decision in the high-profile case at a time when much of the country’s attention is focused on the war with Iran.

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

The leaked video of the abuse was aired last year by Israel’s Channel 12 and purported to show an incident in which the soldiers sodomized the Palestinian detainee from Gaza.

The incident has bitterly divided Israel.

Israel’s move to arrest the soldiers in 2024 prompted fury from hard-line ultranationalists who violently overran the Sde Teiman prison facility in protest. Members of Israel’s far-right government called the investigation into their conduct an affront to their service.

The government's uproar eventually led to the resignation last year of the military's top legal official, who had filed the indictment and authorized the leak of the video to the TV station.

Israel has long been accused of failing to hold its soldiers accountable for crimes committed against Palestinians. The allegations have intensified during the war in Gaza. Israel says its forces act within military and international law and says it thoroughly investigates any alleged abuses.