Israel’s top military lawyer resigns after admitting to leaking video of Palestinian prisoner’s gang rape at Sde Teiman jail

Major-General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, the Israeli military’s chief legal officer, has stepped down after admitting to leaking a video showing the gang rape of a Palestinian prisoner at the Sde Teiman detention facility in August last year.

The footage first surfaced in the media earlier this August amid outrage from Israel’s far-right, who opposed the arrest of soldiers accused of the assault.

In her resignation statement, as reported by Al Jazeera, Tomer-Yerushalmi said she leaked the video in response to political pressure and to counter what she called “false propaganda” against the army’s legal system.

The leaked clip reportedly shows soldiers escorting a blindfolded Palestinian prisoner before surrounding him with riot shields to conceal the rape.

According to court documents, as quoted by Al Jazeera report, the victim was brutally beaten, tased—including on the head—and dragged along the ground. Medical reports cited by Haaretz said he sustained a ruptured bowel, broken ribs, and severe internal injuries that required surgery.

Nine soldiers were initially arrested, though most were released soon after. In February, five remaining suspects were charged only with “severe abuse,” not rape—a decision a UN commission later warned could result in lighter sentences despite clear evidence of sexual assault.

Far-right ministers fiercely opposed the investigation. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir publicly urged Tomer-Yerushalmi to drop the case, while Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich described the accused soldiers as “heroes.” Both are strong supporters of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s efforts to weaken Israel’s judiciary.

After Tomer-Yerushalmi’s resignation, the same politicians who had defended the soldiers celebrated her departure, accusing her of corruption and framing her actions as an “anti-Semitic blood libel” against the military.

Sde Teiman has long faced allegations of abuse. A recent UN report documented widespread torture of Palestinian detainees—including children—at the facility. Victims were reportedly shackled, beaten, denied access to toilets and showers, and subjected to sexual violence, including rape and electric shocks.

In a separate development, 135 of the mutilated bodies returned to Gaza last week were found to have been held at Sde Teiman, with some corpses still blindfolded or bound, according to accompanying documents.