Khaberni - The dismissed Israeli military prosecutor Yifat Yerushalmi, and the chief military prosecutor, were arrested after midnight on Sunday, by the Israeli police, on suspicion of interfering with the investigation into the issue of leaking the torture documentation of a Palestinian prisoner by 5 Israeli soldiers in July 2024.
Hours before her arrest, Yerushalmi had been found on Sunday evening, after hours of search operations conducted by Israeli police and military forces, amid strong suspicions that she had ended her life, before it was later confirmed that she was fine.
This comes a day after the resignation of the military prosecutor, Yifat Tomer Yerushalmi from her position, followed by Katz's announcement of her dismissal due to the suspicions attributed to her, regarding the leak of the documentation of the torture of a Palestinian prisoner by 5 Israeli soldiers in July 2024.
The Israeli police announced this evening that the military prosecutor was found "in good health," without mentioning her identity, stating that the search for the missing person in the Tel Aviv area has concluded with her being found safe.
Before the military prosecutor was found, the Israeli military said in a statement that "following what was published about the search for the chief military prosecutor, Yifat Tomer Yerushalmi, the Chief of Staff has instructed the Operations Directorate to mobilize all available means of the Israel Defense Forces to search for her as soon as possible."
The military prosecutor Yerushalmi had disappeared during the past few hours, while the police and Israeli military launched a wide search operation for her in the Tel Aviv area after her car was found empty there.
According to reports, she "left a message" as well.
An Israeli police helicopter participated in the search operations, along with naval forces which conducted extensive scanning operations in the waters, alongside detection units of the Israeli military, using drones.
The dismissed military prosecutor's family reported her missing to the police.
Yerushalmi was scheduled to be questioned in the coming days, for potentially committing "crimes related to suspected obstruction of investigation procedures, divulging classified information, and making a false statement."
Yerushalmi is suspected of being involved in leaking the video from "Sdei Teiman" and neglecting to investigate the matter, lying about it to the Israeli military Chief of Staff, the Israeli Supreme Court, the accused, and the public at large.
The former Israeli Security Minister, Yoav Gallant, stated last week that Yerushalmi "deliberately lied to me" when he asked her about the reasons for the investigation's delay in the aforementioned leak.
Earlier today, senior Israeli officers said that the resigned military prosecutor refrained from launching investigations into several incidents suspected of constituting grave violations of international law and amounting to "war crimes" committed by the Israeli army during the extermination war on Gaza Strip, under pressure and threats from the far right over the torture case and the sexual assault on the prisoner at "Sdei Teiman" base.
The crime of assault dates back to July 2024; in August of the same year, a video was leaked documenting soldiers from the occupation forces assaulting a Palestinian detainee inside the detention center at "Sdei Teiman" military base, southern the country.
Israeli reports at the time, and some like the channel video, indicated that the recording was filmed a few days after several soldiers were detained on suspicion of committing a rape crime against the same detainee.
According to the recording, the Palestinian detainees were laid on the ground, their hands tied and eyes blindfolded, before one of them was taken aside by a group of reserve soldiers from a unit known as "Force 100".
According to the report, the soldiers tried to cover up their actions by raising the shields they were carrying to block what was happening from the fixed cameras.
The recording included the crime attributed to the soldiers, which is "rape," noting that the targeted detainee, who is from the Gaza Strip, was transferred to the hospital hours later, bleeding from wounds described as "complex," and doctors reported that they resulted from "the entry of a foreign object into his body."
In contrast, Israeli official sources attempted to justify the incident by claiming that the detainee belongs to "Hamas elite forces," but the same channel clarified that the investigations revealed that he did not participate in the operation on October 7, 2023, and is not from elite elements, while the military intelligence division ("Aman") claimed he works as a policeman in the Hamas anti-drug enforcement unit, without providing evidence to support those claims.
A criminal investigation was opened in light of pressures inside Israel from officials and Knesset members who defended the involved reserve soldiers and opposed their trial. Meanwhile, the public discourse in Israel focused on the issue of the leak rather than the crime documented in it.
