Gaza detainee abuse footage surfaces

Israel's top military lawyer quits over leaked video

JERUSALEM:

The Israeli military said its top lawyer resigned on Friday during an investigation into a leaked video appearing to show soldiers severely abusing a Palestinian detainee.

The case triggered international outrage and protests within Israel, and focused on footage taken at the Sde Teiman military base in southern Israel last year.

Sde Teiman has been used to hold Gazans since the start of the war in the Palestinian territory, sparked by Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.

"The Military Advocate General, MG Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, submitted a request this morning to conclude her position," a military statement said, without specifying the reasons for her resignation.

"The Chief of the General Staff is confident that a thorough and truthful inquiry will be conducted regarding the matters discussed," the statement added.

Earlier this week, it was announced that a criminal investigation had been launched into the leaking of footage from Sde Teiman appearing to show the abuse by soldiers.

The Israeli military said in February that it had filed charges against five reservist soldiers connected with the mistreatment.

The statement said they were charged with "acting against the detainee with severe violence, including stabbing the detainee's bottom with a sharp object, which had penetrated near the detainee's rectum".

It added "the acts of violence have caused severe physical injury to the detainee, including cracked ribs, a punctured lung and an inner rectal tear".

The case was brought before the military justice system after the release of the video.

According to a copy of the military prosecutor's resignation letter published by Israeli media on Friday, Tomer-Yerushalmi acknowledged that her office had released information to the media after politically motivated protests tried to thwart the investigation into the abuse.