Israeli defence minister threatens to raze Lebanese national infrastructure
MEE staff
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Fri, 03/13/2026 - 09:48
Israel Katz warns Lebanese government it will 'pay an increasing price' until Hezbollah is disarmed
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Israeli defence minister Israel Katz has threatened to destroy Lebanese national infrastructure used by Hezbollah until the group is disarmed.
Katz said the Lebanese government had "misled and failed to uphold its commitment to disarm Hezbollah," warning that it will "therefore pay a price until it fulfils that obligation".
His comments follow a statement by the Israeli military claiming it had struck a bridge on the Litani River, which it said had been used by Hezbollah fighters.
“This is only the beginning, and the Lebanese government and the Lebanese state will pay an increasing price through damage to Lebanese national infrastructure that is used by Hezbollah terrorists,” Katz said.
This is a developing story...
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Israeli defence minister threatens Lebanon with territorial loss, infrastructure damage
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz on Friday threatened Lebanon with increasing territorial losses and damage to its national infrastructure until Hezbollah is disarmed, Haaretz reported on Friday.
"The Lebanese government misled and failed to uphold its commitment to disarm Hezbollah, and will therefore pay a price until it fulfills that obligation," Katz said.
The minister's comments came after the Israeli military said it had destroyed a bridge over the Litani River, claiming that it was "a key crossing" for Hezbollah operatives.
A statement released by Katz's office said on Thursday that if the Lebanese government could not prevent Hezbollah from attacking Israel, Israel "would do it ourselves".
The Israeli military's top lawyer cites "exceptional circumstances" for dropping the case involving a Palestinian man held at Sde Teiman military prison.
Israeli military drops charges against soldiers accused of raping Palestinian
MEE staff
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Thu, 03/12/2026 - 16:18
The five soldiers were indicted for 'severe abuse' after allegedly gang-raping a Palestinian detainee held at Sde Teiman in July 2024
Soldiers lock a gate at Sde Teiman detention facility, after Israeli military police arrived as part of an investigation into the suspected abuse of a Palestinian detainee on 29 July (Reuters)
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The Israeli army has said it is dropping charges against five soldiers accused of raping a Palestinian detainee.
In August 2024, Israel’s Channel 12 published leaked CCTV footage purportedly showing a group of soldiers at the notorious Sde Teiman prison gang-raping a Palestinian detainee while forming a human barrier around him.
The military announced the move as attention is focused on the war with Iran.
"The State of Israel must hunt down its enemies, not its own heroic fighters," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement praising the decision.
Excerpts of the footage used in the investigation showed soldiers surrounding the detainee as he was pinned against a wall. In another clip, he was seen lying on the floor.
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According to media reports, the Palestinian man was then taken to a field hospital at Sde Teiman with “a ruptured bowel, a severe injury to his anus, lung damage and broken ribs”.
The original indictment said that "for 15 minutes, the accused kicked the detainee, stomped on him, stood on his body, hit him and pushed him all over his body, including with clubs, dragged him along the ground, and used a taser gun on him, including on his head".
At least nine Israeli soldiers, all reservists from Force 100, a unit tasked with guarding the prisoners in Sde Teiman, were questioned over the assault in late July 2024, sparking widespread anger across Israel.
Only five were indicted for "severe abuse" of the detainee, but not for rape. The indictment against them said that one of the soldiers stabbed the detainee with a sharp object, causing a tear near his rectum.
According to Channel 12, the suspects in the case were found to be lying on a polygraph test.
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Two suspects were asked two identical questions: "Did you insert an object into the Palestinian's anus during a search?" and "Are you hiding the identity of the person who inserted an object into the Palestinian's anus?"
The suspects answered in the negative to both questions, with the examiner finding them both to be lying.
A method of war
The Israeli military said the decision to drop the charges follows “significant developments” in the case since the indictment was filed.
Among the reasons for cancelling the charges, the army cited “complexity regarding the existing evidence” and the “exceptional circumstances” of the case which they said could impact “the fundamental and basic right to a fair trial”.
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In November 2025, Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, the country’s former top military lawyer, admitted to leaking the surveillance footage to Israel’s Channel 12 and resigned following a criminal investigation.
Torture, rape and murder have all been reported as rife at Sde Teiman, with investigations by Middle East Eye, CNN and the New York Times reporting widespread examples of abuse at the centre.
But the abuse extends beyond Sde Teiman, with multiple reports documenting the systematic use of sexual violence against Palestinian detainees across the Israeli prison system.
A United Nations inquiry accused Israel of using sexualised torture and rape as "a method of war... to destabilize, dominate, oppress and destroy the Palestinian people".
In December, two Palestinian detainees detained in separate Israeli prisons told Middle East Eye about their experiences of violent sexual assault.
One described how he was kicked, stamped on, insulted and raped with an object while blindfolded, as Israeli guard watched and laughed.
Another described how soldiers used a dog to rape him.
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