Israeli soldiers accused of abusing Palestinian prisoner questioned

Israel's military police on Tuesday questioned soldiers who were arrested on suspicion of sexually abusing a Palestinian detainee, a day after far-right protesters stormed two army bases in support of the troops.

Outside the military tribunal in Beit Lid, dozens gathered for a second consecutive day to protest the arrest of the nine soldiers, in a case that has gripped Israeli media.

Shortly after the suspects were detained by military police on Monday, dozens of protesters including far-right members of parliament forced their way into the army detention centre and at the base where the soldiers were being questioned.

Far-right politicians in Israel have expressed their backing for the soldiers, with Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich calling on the defence ministry to "immediately stop this mistreatment of the army's heroes".

Fellow far-right cabinet member Itamar Ben Gvir, the national security minister, also called for the soldiers to be released.

The storming of the detention centre was condemned, however, by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and army chief Lieutenant-General Herzi Halevi.

"The arrival of rioters and attempts to break into (army) bases are serious, unlawful behaviours bordering on anarchy, harming the IDF (army), the security of the state, and the war effort," Halevi said Monday.

A spokesman for the Israeli army on Monday told AFP that the investigation was opened "following suspicions of significant mistreatment inflicted on a detainee at the Sde Teiman detention centre".

The Palestinian Prisoners Club, a watchdog, accused the soldiers of "rape".

The Sde Teiman detention centre was set up to hold Palestinians arrested in the Gaza Strip following the outbreak of the war in Gaza, which was triggered by Hamas's surprise October 7 attack on southern Israel.

Amnesty International this month called on Israel to end the indefinite detention of Gaza Palestinians and what it called "rampant torture" in its prisons.

Amnesty said it had documented 27 cases of Palestinians, including five women and a 14-year-old boy, who were detained "for up to four and a half months" without being able to contact their families.

The Israeli military has rejected those allegations.

Later on Tuesday, the military said that in a separate case, an indictment had been filed against a reservist on multiple charges of abuse.

The alleged abuse was committed during the months of February to June this year while "securing the travel of security detainees," the military said.

"The defendant used severe violence against the detainees he was entrusted with guarding," it said.

"During some of the trips, despite no threat from the security detainees, and while the detainees were handcuffed and blindfolded, the defendant hit them, some of the times using a club and another time using his personal weapon.

"The defendant did all of this while documenting the acts in videos."