IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir officially dismissed former military advocate-general Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, the military announced on Tuesday.
This comes in light of suspicions regarding her involvement in the Sde Teiman affair, the IDF added.
Tomer-Yerushalmi will not be entitled to the “Completion of Service” pension that IDF retirees of her seniority would normally receive, the military said, adding that Zamir would also consider lowering her rank once the criminal proceedings have concluded.
Zamir initially suspended Tomer-Yerushalmi from her position in October 2025 following an investigation by Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara into the video leak of a video detailing the alleged abuse of Palestinian prisoners at Sde Teiman.
Shortly thereafter, Defense Minister Israel Katz attempted to fire Tomer-Yerushalmi, who ultimately resigned after admitting to leaking the video. She argued that the decision was intended to counter misinformation circulating about the case and to demonstrate that the IDF was taking credible action.
“I approved the leaking of evidence to the media in an attempt to confront the false propaganda against the law enforcement officials in the military,” she wrote in her resignation letter.
“I take full responsibility for all of the evidence that was sent out to the media by this unit. Based on this responsibility, I have also decided to conclude my role as the MAG.”
On Tuesday, Katz commended Zamir on his dismissal of Tomer-Yerushalmi, referring to her actions in the Sde Teiman affair as “grave acts that harmed IDF soldiers” and “blood libel.”
The timeline of Ifat Tomer-Yerushalmi’s resignation and subsequent investigations
The investigation into the former MAG stemmed from a July 2024 incident at the Sde Teiman detention facility, in which IDF reservists were accused of severely abusing a Palestinian detainee from Gaza.
The alleged assault, which occurred during the early months of the war, was investigated by the Justice Ministry’s Police Investigation Department (PID) and later led to indictments against several soldiers.
The case drew heightened public attention about a month later, when video footage documenting the alleged abuse was leaked to the media and aired by television outlets, despite an active investigation and ongoing legal proceedings.
In response to the leak, a separate criminal investigation was opened in late 2024 to determine how the media obtained the footage and whether its release violated confidentiality obligations or constituted an abuse of authority.
In February 2025, the military court, headed by Tomer-Yerushalmi, filed an indictment against five soldiers accused of allegedly abusing a Palestinian detainee at Sde Teiman. The indictment charged the suspects with offenses of aggravated injury and aggravated assault.
Tomer-Yerushalmi’s replacement, Gen. Itay Offir, canceled the indictment in March, saying that the evidentiary difficulties in the case, combined with the scandal surrounding the leaked video, led to the former prosecutorial team itself being probed, making it too difficult to continue.
In February 2026, police announced the conclusion of their investigation into Tomer-Yerushalmi’s leak of the Sde Teiman footage. Police Commissioner Daniel Levi recommended appointing a senior external professional to review the case at that point, adding that he decided to adopt the High Court of Justice’s position of waiting for the Justice Ministry’s legal adviser’s opinion on a suspected conflict of interest issue.
Reported suicide attempts following resignation
Just two days after her resignation, in November 2025, Tomer-Yerushalmi was reported missing and eventually found several hours later on a beach in north Tel Aviv, following what is suspected to have been an attempt to destroy her cell phone and possibly commit suicide.
One week later, after a short sentence in Neve Tirtza Women’s Prison in Ramla, Tomer-Yerushalmi was released to house arrest. She was hospitalized two days later in Tel Aviv’s Ichilov Hospital after a suicide attempt and was released nearly a month later.
Sarah Ben-Nun, Shir Perets, and Yonah Jeremy Bob contributed to this report.
