JERUSALEM/ISTANBUL

Israeli soldiers convicted of torturing and sexually assaulting a Palestinian detainee at the notorious Sde Teiman prison have publicly defended their crime and demanded gratitude for their actions.

The soldiers, who appeared wearing black masks to conceal their identities, made their remarks during a press conference held outside the Supreme Court in West Jerusalem on Monday.

“I stand here today because I am tired of silence. Instead of appreciation, we received accusations — instead of thanks, there was silence,” Israeli Channel 7 quoted one of the accused soldiers, who was identified by the initial “A”.

“We were not allowed to respond or explain; we were given a show trial before cameras, and you had already decided who was guilty.”

Boasting about his actions, he said, “We will not remain silent. We will keep fighting for justice and for our families. Maybe you tried to break us, but you forgot that we are the strength of a hundred men.”

The case dates back to July 2024, when Israeli soldiers tortured a Palestinian prisoner from Gaza inside Sde Teiman in southern Israel, causing him severe injuries and internal rectal tearing.

On Monday, a Tel Aviv court extended the detention of former military prosecutor Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi for three days after she authorized the release of the video showing the torture, sparking global outrage.

Tomer-Yerushalmi resigned Friday, saying she allowed the publication of the footage “to counter false propaganda against law enforcement agencies in the army.”

The Israeli daily Haaretz reported that Israel released the assaulted detainee in October and returned him to Gaza, though no confirmation has been made by Hamas or Palestinian prisoner institutions.

There are currently over 10,000 Palestinians in Israeli prisons, including women and children, who face torture, starvation, and medical neglect, conditions that have caused numerous deaths, according to Palestinian and Israeli human rights organizations.

Israeli journalist Yoana Gonen, writing in Haaretz, criticized the soldiers’ portrayal as heroes, calling them “a symbol of today’s Israel — a nation marked by shame and disgrace.”

Gonen wrote under the title “What did we really want? To torture quietly without the world finding out and making us uncomfortable,” referring to the leak as “perhaps the most serious propaganda attack against Israel since its founding,” while ignoring the documented crimes in the footage.

“Two years of indiscriminate destruction in Gaza, soldiers posting war crimes on TikTok, ministers boasting of torture, journalists calling for genocide — yet only the propaganda leak reminded the system that the law is supposed to apply,” he said.

Israel has killed close to 69,000 people, mostly women and children, and injured over 170,000 others in attacks in Gaza since October 2023.