This came in the context of the US State Department Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel’s comment on reports of Israeli soldiers sexually assaulting a Palestinian prisoner in Sde Teiman prison.

The US State Department on Tuesday refused to describe the rape of Palestinian prisoners by Israeli soldiers as a war crime.

Al-Quds correspondent asked Foreign Ministry spokesman Vedant Patel about the Israeli soldiers who were arrested for raping a Palestinian prisoner at the notorious Sde Teiman detention center. The Palestinian was taken to hospital with a rectal injury that was so severe that he could not walk.

The prisoner's case confirms some of the worst evidence about the squalid conditions at Sde Teiman, with both Israeli whistleblowers and former Palestinian prisoners detailing widespread torture and abuse by Israeli soldiers at the facility.

"It is clear that rape, murder, torture and all this stuff happens regularly in Israeli detention camps. Does this constitute a war crime for you?" asked the Jerusalem Post.

“The reports of abuse are deeply troubling, and we have been clear and consistent with Israel and the IDF that they need to treat all detainees with humanity and dignity in accordance with international humanitarian law,” Patel said, adding that the United States would allow “due process” in the case against the Israeli soldiers.

The Jerusalem correspondent continued, asking, "Now, if it is proven true, this constitutes a war crime, doesn't it?"

"I'm not a legal expert," Patel replied. "I certainly imagine it would be inconsistent with Israeli law."

In contrast, the US government was quick to describe Russia’s actions in Ukraine as war crimes, with President Biden even declaring as early as March 2022, less than a month after the invasion, that Russian President Vladimir Putin was a “war criminal.”

The arrest of the Israeli soldiers suspected of rape sparked protests by far-right activists, members of the Israeli Knesset and a member of the coalition government. Protesters stormed the Sde Teiman base and another military base in defense of the Israeli soldiers who committed the atrocities.