Israeli whistleblower arrested after going missing following notorious Sde Teiman prison abuse leak

Israeli forces have arrested whistleblower Maj. General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi on suspicion of leaking a video showing the harrowing rape of a Palestinian detainee at the Sde Teiman detention facility, hours after the Israeli military’s chief advocate went missing and was feared dead.

Tomer-Yerushalmi will appear in court ahead of a hearing in Tel Aviv later on Monday, alongside former military prosecutor Matan Solomosh, who was also arrested.

Tomer-Yerushalmi and Solomosh are suspected of "obstructing justice" over the leak of a video showing abuse at the notorious detention facility and an alleged subsequent cover-up, Israeli media said on Monday.

Police said the two are suspected of "other criminal offenses", without providing any further details.

The video in question refers to a released clip last year purporting to show Israeli soldiers torturing a Palestinian detainee at the Sde Teiman detention centre, which was used throughout the war on Gaza to detain and abuse Palestinians from the enclave.

In the video, soldiers can be seen forcing a Palestinian detainee to lie on the floor before surrounding him with riot shields to block the visibility of security cameras. The man was then attacked, with the Palestinian victim suffering severe injuries to his rectum, ribs, and lungs after he was stabbed with a sharp object by the soldiers.

In February, a criminal investigation was launched into the incident, with five reservists being 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".

On Friday, the chief advocate announced her resignation in connection with the video’s leak.

Before her arrest, Tomer-Yerushalmi was found on Sunday after her family reported her missing after they were unable to reach her for several hours. Israeli authorities later found her car near Hatzuk beach near Tel Aviv, before being located by a beach in nearby Herzliya hours later.

According to Israeli police, a letter was found in Tomer-Yerushalmi’s vehicle interpreted as a "suicide note" by some media outlets. Israel’s Channel 12, however, said on Monday that her note did not indicate this.

In her resignation letter, Tomer-Yerushalmi acknowledged that her office had released information to the media after politically motivated protests tried to thwart the investigation into the abuse.

In the letter presented to the Israel military’s chief of staff Eyal Zamir, she said that she had approved the release of the material last year "in an attempt to counter false propaganda against the army's law enforcement authorities".

The politically motivated protests are a likely reference to the demonstrations carried out by far-right politicians and activists following the video’s leak, in protest against the arrest of several soldiers.

"I take full responsibility for any material that reached the media from within the unit. That responsibility is also the basis for my decision to end my tenure as Military Advocate General," she added.

Tomer-Yerushalmi had been on leave from the Israeli military since a probe was launched by police last week into the leak.

Tomer-Yerushalmi’s case and arrest have provoked strong reactions from the government, with Defence Minister Israel Katz accusing her of slandering Israeli soldiers by spreading "a blood libel" by releasing the video.

The Sde Teiman facility is among the most notoriously violent prisons in Israel, with numerous accusations of abuse and medical neglect of Palestinian detainees reported since it began operating as a detention centre almost two years ago.

Throughout the course of the onslaught, released Palestinians said they were subject to rape, torture and other forms of severe physical and sexual abuse.