The IDF criminal probe into the death of a Hezbollah detainee last Thursday while in the custody of special interrogation unit 504 and the Golani Brigade may not be as problematic as a recent problematic incident by IDF soldiers against a Gaza detainee at Sde Teiman, The Jerusalem Post has learned.
That does not mean that an IDF reservist soldier from Unit 504 (“the IDF’s Mossad”), who is due to be questioned, and others, may not face charges.
The case went public with an IDF announcement on Saturday of the incident and the probe.
According to the IDF, a Hezbollah fighter who had opened fire on IDF forces, but later was subdued and arrested, died in the process of being in custody and of questioning.
The Public Commitee Against Torture on Monday sent a letter to the Attorney-General and Military Advicate General demanding that the case be properly handled and that major changes occur regarding Israel's handling of Gaza and Hezbollah detainees.
The IDF has not yet responded to the letter.
At least one, but quite possibly more, Unit 504 soldiers are under suspicion of having used violence during the questioning in a way which could have caused his death.
Both international law and Israeli law prohibit torture, let alone killing a detainee, regardless of whether the person in question is a citizen or a foreign terrorist, such as a Hezbollah fighter.
Israel does have some special rules related to Hezbollah terrorists, but they relate to how long they can be detained without standard criminal proceedings, and do not allow physical violence against the detainee.
If there were clear indications from the start of the Sde Teiman case that criminal charges, and likely serious ones, would be filed, sources indicate that may not be true in this case.
When the IDF makes such claims in defense of a detainee death, the military often later argues that the detainee in question had some prior undetected medical problem which caused the death in question, not wilful conduct by the soldiers involved in the interrogation.
There were additional questions raised about the case on Tuesday given disputes about whether the IDF had said a few days ago that at least one suspect from Unit 504 had been summoned for questioning, whereas there were indications on Tuesday that this process still had not started.
Opaque handling of probe
Sources defended the IDF’s opaque handling of the probe both because criminal investigations are supposed to remain classified until charges are finalized and because some recent probes of IDF soldiers have led to attacks on military police.
Israel and the IDF are already under the gun about detainee treatment given that around 35 Gaza detainees died in custody relating to the Sde Teiman detention facility.
A few soldiers from Unit 100 from Sde Teiman are expected to be indicted for shoving an object up the buttocks of a detainee, though the charges have still not been finalized.
These cases led to international outcry from Israeli allies overseas and wide global media coverage.