Israeli army paratroopers. (Credit: David Furst/AFP/Getty Images)
BEIRUT — The Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court has released former Military Advocate General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi to house arrest following her detention over suspicions of involvement in leaking a video showing Israeli soldiers abusing a Palestinian detainee at the Sde Teiman detention center, Haaretz reported Friday.
The court’s decision matched a police request for house arrest, which was approved by Tomer-Yerushalmi’s defense team. Police also barred her from contacting other suspects linked to the leak until Dec. 31, according to Haaretz.
Israel’s High Court of Justice announced it would convene by Tuesday to determine who will oversee the investigation into the leak.
The probe began after Channel 12 aired footage in August 2024 showing Israeli reservists at Sde Teiman taking aside a Palestinian detainee, surrounding him with riot shields to block visibility, and allegedly beating and stabbing him in the rectum with a sharp object. The detainee was later treated for severe injuries.
Five reservists were subsequently charged with aggravated abuse and causing serious bodily harm. They have denied the allegations and have not been publicly named. On Sunday, four of the accused appeared outside the Supreme Court in Jerusalem wearing black balaclavas, accompanied by their lawyers, who called for the dismissal of their trial.
Tomer-Yerushalmi had resigned as Military Advocate General last week, saying she took “full responsibility” for the leak. “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 in her resignation letter. “It is our duty to investigate whenever there is reasonable suspicion of acts of violence against a detainee.”
She was reported missing on Sunday, prompting a police search that ended when she was found safe on a beach north of Tel Aviv. She was then taken into custody.
A criminal investigation into the leak was launched last week. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz announced that Tomer-Yerushalmi would not be allowed to return to her post, after which she formally stepped down.
The Sde Teiman facility, located inside a military base in southern Israel, has held Palestinians detained since the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack, including alleged members of Hamas’ armed wing.
In July 2024, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk reported that many Palestinians detained since October 7 had been held in secret and subjected to treatment that could amount to torture.
