Female IDF reservists were forced to guard violent Nukhba terrorists at the Sde Teiman base and detention center in the days following October 7, 2023, despite repeated sexual harassment, according to a Monday KAN News report.
"We would serve them food, cuff them, be with them for long hours, and during this time, they would masturbate in front of us, blow us kisses, and try to undress. Their gazes were degrading, stripping. It was unbearable,” one reservist told KAN News's Carmela Menashe.
“I didn’t enlist in the IDF for this,” one of the soldiers, who is refusing to return to the role, despite the risk of being declared AWOL (absent without leave), told Menashe. “Take me to the battlefield, to war – just not to stand in front of terrorists, murderers, and rapists.”
“This place [Sde Teiman] left a deep mark on me," she said. "I want to serve, want to contribute – but not there. Not under these conditions.”
The women were also required to guard the terrorists in uncomfortably intimate situations with no buffer or protection.
“We were required to guard them...even when they showered, during handcuff exchanges – situations that are difficult, disturbing, and humiliating for women. There was no proper separation, no protection for us,” they told KAN. "We would leave, and they would come back to us at night, in nightmares. We would cry to each other. We just wanted to get out of that role."
The reservists added that they were not allowed to talk to any IDF mental health professional, and were routinely ignored by their superiors when they attempted to bring attention to the issue.
Leaving Sde Teiman did not solve the problem of the ongoing trauma responses, they said. One of their colleagues, who also guarded Sde Teiman terrorists, has been hospitalized and is undergoing long-term mental health care, KAN reported.
Sexual violence in Israeli jails: 38% of female guards assaulted by security prisoners
This issue has previously been brought to the military's attention. In April 2024, Israel’s State Comptroller, Matanyahu Englman, criticized the IDF for reportedly ordering female Cadets in the Officers' Course to guard Nukhba terrorists.
Englman said such orders were in stark contrast with the 2022 female soldiers' protection report, which noted that 38% of female prison guards say they've been sexually assaulted by Palestinian security prisoners.
“If we add recent evidence that the hostages experienced sexual harassment, the writing is on the wall,” Engelman added.