The Hind Rajab Foundation has lodged a complaint with the International Criminal Court (ICC) accusing Israeli medical officials of torture and mistreatment of Palestinian detainees, according to reports from Israeli media on Saturday, citing Anadolu.
The complaint names the Israeli Medical Association, Health Ministry officials, and medical personnel, alleging abuses at the Sde Teiman military detention facility in southern Israel.
According to the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, the Brussels‑based rights organization submitted the complaint to the ICC prosecutor under Article 15 of the Rome Statute.
The foundation contends that Israeli medical personnel and officials engaged in practices constituting war crimes and crimes against humanity.
– Allegations of systematic mistreatment
Since October 2023, the Sde Teiman military base in Israel’s southern Negev desert has detained thousands of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, the majority of whom are civilians—including men, women, children, elderly individuals, journalists, and health and humanitarian workers.
The foundation asserts that detainees were labeled “unlawful combatants,” a designation it describes as a tool to deny them basic legal protections and to hold them without charge or trial.
The complaint alleges that Israel’s Health Ministry set up a medical facility at Sde Teiman shortly after 7 October 2023.
According to the foundation, medical personnel were required to sign documents placing them under the authority of the military police rather than the army’s Medical Corps.
The complaint seeks investigations into officials from Israel’s health and defense ministries, medical personnel, hospital administrators, and the Israeli Medical Association.
Named individuals include former health ministers Moshe Arbel and Uriel Buso, association chairman Zion Hagay, director general Leah Wapner, and ethics board chairman Yosef Walfisch.
– Detainees restrained during medical treatment
The foundation reports that a Health Ministry directive issued on 19 December 2023 required medical personnel to treat detainees while they were handcuffed and blindfolded.
According to the complaint, the directive also permitted forced medical treatment without adequate safeguards.
Medical staff were allegedly instructed not to disclose their names and to sign medical records using only their professional titles.
The foundation argues that these practices obscured individual responsibility and impeded documentation of injuries.
– Amputations, surgeries without adequate pain relief
The foundation cites accounts from Israeli medical workers and former Palestinian detainees describing abuses at Sde Teiman.
According to the complaint, a doctor wrote to Israeli authorities in April 2024 that two detainees had undergone leg amputations within one week due to injuries caused by shackling.
The doctor reportedly described shackling as routine at the facility.
The foundation also cites medical workers who told the Associated Press they had witnessed surgeries performed without adequate pain relief.
One account describes an elderly detainee screaming and shaking during leg surgery.
Other workers report detainees being blindfolded, forced to wear diapers, and restrained by all four limbs to hospital beds.
The foundation states that at least 29 detainees had died at Sde Teiman by November 2025 due to physical violence, medical neglect, or both.
– Medical association accused of complicity
The complaint accuses the Israeli Medical Association of helping legitimize torture and mistreatment at the facility.
The foundation says the association responded to allegations of medical complicity with general reminders about professional ethics rather than sufficient investigative action.
It also states that findings from an internal Health Ministry ethical assessment following a visit to Sde Teiman were not publicly released.
“Instead of investigating the allegations, leaders of the association publicly defended the medical care provided at Sde Teiman,” the foundation said.
Founded in February 2024 and headquartered in Brussels, the Hind Rajab Foundation has pursued legal cases in several countries against Israeli officials and military personnel over alleged violations in Gaza.
Since October 2023, Israel’s war in Gaza has resulted in the deaths of more than 74,000 Palestinians and injuries to over 175,000 others, according to Palestinian figures.