Former IDF Military Advocate Arrested Over Leak of Video Showing Alleged Torture at Sde Teiman

Nov. 3 — Former IDF legal chief detained after admitting role in leaking 2024 footage

A former senior legal official in the Israel Defense Forces has been arrested in connection with the disclosure of a video that appears to show IDF personnel severely abusing a Palestinian detainee.

Maj. Gen. Yifat Tomer‑Yerushalmi, who recently resigned as the IDF's Military Advocate General, acknowledged in her resignation letter that she provided the footage to the media and has accepted responsibility for the leak. Col. Matan Solomosh, the former chief military prosecutor, was also taken into custody on suspicion of involvement in the same disclosure.

Both Tomer‑Yerushalmi and Solomosh were arrested Sunday night on suspicion of leaking the material and "other serious criminal offenses," including an alleged attempt to cover up the disclosure, The Times of Israel reported. A court on Monday ordered them to remain in custody until noon Wednesday after police asked for five days, saying they feared the two might obstruct the investigation.

Contents of the video

The footage, broadcast in 2024 on an Israeli television channel, shows reservists at the Sde Teiman military base seizing a detainee, surrounding him with riot shields and, according to the reporting, beating him and stabbing him in the rectum with a sharp object. The detainee received treatment for severe injuries.

The reservists have been charged with aggravated abuse and causing serious bodily harm; they deny the accusations. The unnamed soldiers appeared outside Israel's Supreme Court in Jerusalem on Sunday with their lawyers, who have asked for the case to be dismissed. According to the BBC, some of the soldiers wore balaclavas to conceal their identities.

Reactions and context

In her resignation letter, Tomer‑Yerushalmi said she authorized release of the material "in an attempt to counter false propaganda against the army's law enforcement authorities" and emphasized that it is the army's duty to investigate reasonable suspicions of violence against detainees.

"I approved the release of material to the media in an attempt to counter false propaganda against the army's law enforcement authorities," she wrote.

Defense Minister Israel Katz sharply condemned the disclosure after her resignation. "Anyone who spreads blood libels against IDF troops is unfit to wear the army's uniform," he said.

The Sde Teiman facility has faced scrutiny previously. Last year, several human-rights organizations raised concerns about reported abuses there. In July 2024, Amnesty International released a report alleging that civilian detainees at the site were being held indefinitely without access to lawyers and suffered torture and abuse while detained.

Investigations are ongoing. Court proceedings and police inquiries are expected to continue in the coming days as authorities determine the full circumstances of the leak and the alleged abuses depicted in the footage.