The Brussels-based Hind Rajab Foundation has officially filed a complaint with the International Criminal Court (ICC) regarding the treatment of Palestinian detainees at the Sde Teiman military facility in southern Israel. According to reports, the submission was made under Article 15 of the Rome Statute and specifically targets the Israeli Medical Association, various Health Ministry officials, and individual medical personnel for their alleged involvement in systematic abuse, which the foundation characterizes as war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Since October 2023, the Sde Teiman base in the Negev desert has served as a detention site for thousands of Palestinians from Gaza. The population held at the facility includes civilians, journalists, health and humanitarian workers, as well as women, children, and the elderly. The foundation notes that these individuals are frequently classified as "unlawful combatants," a designation that allows the state to hold them without charge or trial while depriving them of standard legal protections. The complaint further highlights that the Israeli Health Ministry established a medical facility at the base shortly after October 7, 2023, with personnel reportedly required to sign documents placing them under military police authority rather than the army’s standard Medical Corps.
The legal action seeks comprehensive investigations into high-ranking officials, including former health ministers Moshe Arbel and Uriel Buso, as well as Israeli Medical Association chairman Zion Hagay, director general Leah Wapner, and ethics board chairman Yosef Walfisch. The foundation alleges that a December 19, 2023, directive from the Health Ministry mandated that medical staff treat detainees while they remained blindfolded and handcuffed, while also permitting forced medical procedures without necessary safeguards. Furthermore, medical workers were allegedly instructed to omit their names from records, signing only with professional titles to obscure individual accountability.
Reports cited in the complaint include accounts from medical workers who witnessed surgeries performed without adequate pain relief, including one instance of an elderly detainee shaking and screaming during a leg procedure. Another doctor documented in April 2024 that two detainees required leg amputations within a single week due to injuries sustained from routine shackling. Other detainees were reportedly kept in diapers and restrained to beds by all four limbs. By November 2025, the foundation estimates at least 29 detainees had died at Sde Teiman due to medical neglect or physical violence.
The foundation accuses the Israeli Medical Association of complicity, asserting that the organization chose to issue general reminders regarding ethics rather than launching a genuine investigation into the abuses. The group contends that the association and Health Ministry officials have actively shielded those responsible for these practices, failing to release the results of internal ethical assessments while publicly defending the quality of care provided at the facility.
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