Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, who admitted authorizing release of footage exposing abuse in Israeli prisons, remains under investigation as police probe discovery of her missing phone
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — An Israeli court in Tel Aviv on Friday released outgoing Military Advocate General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi and ordered her placed under house arrest for 10 days, Israeli public broadcaster KAN reported.
Tomer-Yerushalmi was arrested on Monday over her role in leaking a video showing Israeli soldiers torturing a Palestinian detainee, and her detention was extended on Wednesday.
Under the court’s ruling, she is allowed to leave her home only with prior notification to the investigation unit and solely to meet her attorney. She is also barred from contacting others involved in the case for 55 days, KAN said.
The investigation centers on how the video, filmed inside the notorious Sde Teiman prison, where Israeli troops were seen abusing a Palestinian prisoner, was leaked from within her military unit.
The footage, which surfaced in July 2024, showed the detainee being beaten and assaulted, causing severe injuries.
Tomer-Yerushalmi admitted responsibility for the leak when she resigned from her position on Oct. 31, 2025, saying she had authorized the material’s release “to counter false propaganda against the military justice system,” according to Israeli media.
In a related development, KAN said police found a cellphone believed to belong to Tomer-Yerushalmi after it went missing late last week.
“Citizens discovered a mobile phone on a beach in Herzliya, and police are investigating whether it belongs to the former military prosecutor,” the broadcaster reported.
Police confirmed receiving reports of the phone being discovered on Herzliya beach, saying in a statement that “the device was seized and an investigation is underway.”
Channel 12 later cited police sources saying the recovered phone “belongs to the former military prosecutor.”
According to Haaretz daily, Israel released the abused Palestinian detainee in October 2025 to Gaza, though there has been no immediate comment from Hamas or Palestinian prisoner advocacy groups.
The newspaper added that following the video’s release, prominent right-wing figures launched attacks against Tomer-Yerushalmi, while opposition members criticized the incitement. Defense Minister Israel Katz later said she “would not return to her position given the severity of the suspicions surrounding her.”
There are currently over 10,000 Palestinians in Israeli prisons, including women and children, who face torture, starvation, and medical neglect, conditions that have caused numerous deaths, according to Palestinian and Israeli human rights organisations. — Anadolu Agency
