Dozens of Israeli soldiers leave Sde Teiman base after dispute with commanders: Report

Dozens of Israeli soldiers left the Sde Teiman military base in southern Israel on Thursday following a dispute with senior commanders, the Israeli newspaper The Jerusalem Post reported.

The soldiers are members of the Sabar Battalion of the Givati Brigade, according to the report.

"According to sources in the Givati Brigade, the command staff decided to remove and destroy symbols displayed by the battalion's companies," the newspaper said.

It said the battalion commander insisted on carrying out the decision despite opposition from the soldiers.

"One of the commanders used a five-kilogram sledgehammer to destroy one of the symbols," a soldier serving in the unit told Israeli news website Walla.

When the two sides failed to reach an agreement, the soldiers left the unit and walked out of the base, The Jerusalem Post reported.

Sde Teiman, a military base in Israel's Negev Desert, has been the subject of repeated allegations of abuse against Palestinians detained from the Gaza Strip.

Palestinian and Israeli media outlets, as well as rights groups, have documented beatings, prolonged restraint, medical neglect, and deaths in custody at the facility. The base has drawn comparisons to the US detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

According to Palestinian rights groups, more than 9,600 Palestinians are currently held in Israeli prisons, including around 350 children and 84 women, amid continued reports of torture, medical neglect, and ill-treatment.