Israel extends arrest of military’s former top legal officer, source says

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(Corrects paragraph five to reflect that the video surfaced before the indictments)

JERUSALEM (Reuters) -The detention of the Israeli military’s former chief legal officer, who was arrested on Sunday, has been extended until Friday, a police source told Reuters on Wednesday.

Advocate General Major-General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi resigned last week over a criminal inquiry into the leaking of a video that appeared to show soldiers abusing a Palestinian detainee arrested during the Gaza war.

Tomer-Yerushalmi, who said she was quitting because she had approved the video’s leak in August 2024, was briefly reported missing on Sunday, but was later found and taken into custody.

Police did not immediately reply to a request for comment on the source’s remarks to Reuters.

The video surfaced during an abuse investigation that led to the Israeli military prosecutor filing indictments against five reservists, alleging severe abuse and injury of a Palestinian prisoner in an Israeli prison, included cracked ribs, a punctured lung and a torn rectum.

The inquiry drew condemnation from right-wing politicians, and protesters stormed two military compounds after investigators sought troops for questioning in the case.

A week after the break-in at the bases, a security camera video showing the moments of the alleged abuse was leaked to Israel’s N12 News.

It showed soldiers taking a prisoner aside and crowding around while holding a dog and blocking visibility of their actions with their riot gear.

Tomer-Yerushalmi said her actions were an attempt to fend off propaganda against the military’s legal department entrusted with upholding the rule of law.

Rights groups have reported grave abuses of Palestinians in Israeli detention during the war. Israel’s military is investigating dozens of cases but says abuse is not systematic.

(Reporting by Pesha Magid, Editing by Timothy Heritage)