The Hind Rajab Foundation accused Israeli medical personnel and senior health officials of complicity in the alleged torture, abuse, and deaths of Palestinian detainees at the Sde Teiman detention facility, announcing on Thursday that it had submitted a request to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague to investigate their involvement.
The request names medical professionals, hospital administrators, senior Health Ministry and Defense Ministry officials, and leaders of the Israel Medical Association (IMA) in connection with alleged abuses at the facility since October 7, 2023.
Among those the Hind Rajab Foundation is seeking to have investigated are former health ministers Moshe Arbel and Uriel Buso, IMA chairman Prof. Zion Hagai, IMA director-general attorney Leah Wapner, and Dr. Yosef Walfisch, chairman of the IMA's Ethics Bureau.
According to the foundation, the alleged acts could constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity, and even genocide.
The submission was filed under Article 15 of the Rome Statute, which allows organizations and individuals to provide the ICC prosecutor with information about alleged crimes and request that it be examined. The submission is not an indictment, nor does it constitute a decision by the court to open an investigation into any of the individuals named.
Allegations of medical abuse at Sde Teiman
The timing of the move is not coincidental. From October 7 to 10, the World Medical Association (WMA) is holding its General Assembly in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, with representatives of the IMA also participating.
Hagay chairs the WMA's Socio-Medical Affairs Committee, while Wapner serves on its advisory committees.
At the center of the submission is the field hospital established at the Sde Teiman detention facility following the October 7 attacks.
According to the Hind Rajab Foundation, the Health Ministry was responsible for establishing and operating the hospital, while the medical personnel working there were placed under the authority of the Military Police.
The organization refers to guidelines it claims were issued by the Health Ministry in December 2023, including provisions for treating detainees while they were handcuffed and blindfolded, prohibiting medical personnel from identifying themselves by name, restricting transfers to civilian hospitals, and allowing involuntary medical treatment.
The foundation also relies on previously published testimony, including an Associated Press report in which medical personnel described surgeries performed without adequate pain relief.
It also cites a letter written in April 2024 by a doctor who worked at Sde Teiman, warning that two detainees had undergone leg amputations following injuries caused by prolonged shackling.
A separate section of the submission is devoted to the Israel Medical Association.
The Hind Rajab Foundation accuses the association's leadership of providing what it describes as professional and ethical backing for conditions at the detention facility.
It cites a letter published in April 2024 in the American Journal of Bioethics by Hagay, Walfisch, and Malka Boro of the IMA, in which they maintained that detainees at Sde Teiman were receiving appropriate medical care.
The authors noted that Walfisch had visited the facility as part of a delegation of medical ethics experts and acknowledged that isolated violations of ethical rules might occur. However, they maintained that, to the best of their knowledge, the doctors were fulfilling their professional obligations.
The foundation's director-general, Dyab Abou Jahjah, criticized the participation of Israeli representatives in the Rotterdam conference.
According to Abou Jahjah, the WMA must explain why it continues to host an organization that he claims provided institutional backing for torture.
Israeli Medical Association faces international pressure
In early July, the IMA announced that more than 5,000 doctors from 46 countries had signed a petition opposing efforts to remove it from the WMA.
In its statement, the association argued that the campaign represented an attempt to bring politics into medicine and that the accusations against it included false or disputed claims.
The IMA has previously opposed calls for its suspension, arguing that disagreements over government policy should not affect cooperation between medical professionals.
At the WMA's meeting in Portugal last year, the Israeli association also succeeded in blocking an attempt to suspend its membership.
However, the Hind Rajab Foundation has made clear that its submission to The Hague is only the beginning of a broader initiative.
In its statement, the organization warned that it was preparing individual case files against Israeli doctors and medical professionals who also hold foreign citizenship, with the intention of filing complaints against them with prosecuting authorities in their countries of citizenship.
Through this initiative, the foundation seeks to expand its legal activities targeting Israeli military personnel to include members of the healthcare system, in an effort to subject them to criminal proceedings outside Israel.