Israel’s military has dropped all charges against five soldiers who were accused of assaulting and gang-raping a Palestinian man detained at the Sde Teiman prison in 2024. The prison has become notorious for the gruesome torture of Palestinians. The man was hospitalized with broken ribs, a punctured lung, rectal damage and other injuries. The former top lawyer of the Israeli military was arrested last year for her alleged role in the leak of surveillance video that showed the Israeli soldiers raping the Palestinian detainee, who was returned to Gaza after his release from Israeli prison. At the time, far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said the soldiers should be treated like “heroes, not villains.”

Meanwhile, Spain has permanently removed its ambassador to Israel as the Spanish government intensifies its opposition to the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said last week Spain would refuse to allow the U.S. to use naval and air bases in southern Spain to strike Iran. 

In related news, Iceland and the Netherlands have joined South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice. The case was first brought in December 2023.