Israeli female prison guards banned over allegations of sex with inmate

Female Israeli soldiers are to be banned from serving as high security prison guards after allegations of sex with a Palestinian inmate.

Israeli media say a soldier admitted to physical intimacy with a Palestinian man said to have carried out a deadly attack on Israeli civilians.

The woman is thought to have been on military service which is compulsory for the majority of Israelis.

Women must serve for at least two years and men for 32 months.

The name of the soldier and the inmate serving a life sentence have not been released.

The court hearing the case ordered that other details including the location of the prison should not be revealed.

Israeli media also reported that during questioning, the soldier - who has been arrested - claimed four other women had also had intimate relations with the same man.

The Palestinian inmate was transferred from his cell to a segregated wing ahead of questioning, the Israeli Prison Service (IPS) said.

On Friday, IPS chief Katy Perry and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir announced that female soldiers would no longer serve in high security prisons holding Palestinian "terrorists".

Israeli media quoted Mr Ben-Gvir as saying that by mid-2025 "not a single female soldier will remain in the security prisoners' wings".

There have been repeated calls for the service of female Israeli soldiers in high-security Israeli prisons to be halted. However, these previously stalled because of a lack of staff to replace them.

Last year, Israeli ministers ordered an investigation after a scandal at one jail in which it was alleged that Palestinian convicts had assaulted and raped female soldiers serving as prison guards and that some senior prison officers had "pimped out" the conscripts.