According to the Hebrew newspaper Yediot Aharonot, Yerushalmi admitted her responsibility for publishing media materials with the aim of "countering false propaganda against law enforcement officials in the Israeli occupation army," saying: "I agreed to publish media materials in an attempt to refute false propaganda against law enforcement officials in the army."
Israeli Army Radio reported that Yerushalmi announced her resignation during a meeting with Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir, while Defense Minister Yisrael Katz confirmed that the duties of the military prosecutor general had been temporarily suspended
Katz said in remarks carried by the radio: "Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir informed me that it was decided to suspend the duties of the Military Advocate General, in light of the ongoing criminal investigation into the involvement of officials in her office in the leak."
He added: "This is a serious matter that has caused a blatant insult to Israeli army soldiers around the world, and anyone who spreads bloody lies about army soldiers does not deserve to wear the military uniform."
The Israeli army announced on Wednesday that it had opened a criminal investigation into the leak of the video from Sde Teiman prison (southern Israel), which showed soldiers assaulting a Palestinian prisoner last year, saying in a statement that the investigation includes members of the military prosecution.
The leaked video, dated August 2024, shows soldiers taking the Palestinian prisoner to a corner of the prison, surrounding him with riot shields, before brutally beating him. The prisoner was later transferred to the hospital with serious injuries.
widespread international outrage
The video sparked widespread international outrage and calls from human rights organizations to close the prison where Israel is holding Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, amid repeated reports of serious abuses, torture and killings in detention.
Israeli government legal advisor Gali Baharav-Miara said, "The police investigations and intelligence division is conducting this investigation with the assistance of the Attorney General's office," adding that the investigation is ongoing and no further details can be provided at this time.
Last February, the military prosecution filed an indictment against five soldiers on charges of "serious assault" on the Palestinian prisoner in the same prison, according to Haaretz newspaper
According to the indictment, the five soldiers brutally assaulted the prisoner after bringing him to the detention facility on July 5, 2024, causing serious injuries, including broken ribs and a ruptured rectum. The newspaper noted that the court has prohibited the publication of the accused soldiers' names and that they are "not in custody and are not subject to any restrictive conditions."
Last May, an Israeli soldier revealed to Haaretz newspaper "horrific atrocities" being committed in Sde Teiman prison, indicating that civilian detainees from Gaza were killed under torture, while others underwent surgery without anesthesia
More than 10,000 Palestinians, including children and women, are languishing in Israeli prisons, suffering torture, starvation, and medical neglect that has claimed the lives of many detainees, according to Israeli and Palestinian human rights organizations
Attacks against Palestinian detainees have increased, in parallel with a genocidal war waged by Israel with American support on the Gaza Strip for two years since October 8, 2023.
This genocide left 68,643 Palestinian martyrs and 170,655 wounded, most of them children and women, and destruction that affected 90% of the civilian infrastructure, with reconstruction costs estimated by the United Nations at about $70 billion.
The Israeli occupation army and settlers in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, killed at least 1,063 Palestinians, injured about 10,000, and arrested more than 20,000, including 1,600 children.