Former IDF Chief Prosecutor Arrested After Disappearance; Police Probe Possible Staged Suicide and Evidence Tampering

After hours of uncertainty and an intensive nationwide search, former Military Advocate General Maj. Gen. (res.) Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi was found late Sunday night near Tel Aviv’s northern coast and taken into police custody. The senior officer, who recently ended her term as the IDF’s top prosecutor, had been missing all day Sunday after failing to appear for a scheduled legal meeting.

The dramatic search and her subsequent arrest come amid a widening police investigation into the leak of footage from the Sde Teiman detention facility, a case that has already led to multiple high-level detentions.

Police said Tomer-Yerushalmi entered the sea during the hours she was missing and was found by rescue forces “with her clothes soaked in seawater” and without her mobile phone. The device, considered a crucial piece of evidence in the leak probe, has not yet been recovered. Search teams continued searching the area around Hof HaTzuk beach on Monday morning.

Investigators suspect Tomer-Yerushalmi may have staged a suicide attempt to conceal or destroy the phone. A senior police source told reporters that her disappearance and the missing device raise “a grave suspicion of obstruction of justice.” 

Police also arrested former Chief Military Prosecutor Col. Matan Solomesh late Sunday along with Tomer-Yerushalmi and her former spokeswoman. They are expected to appear in court, where police will request a five-day extension of their custody. Two other senior officers in the Military Prosecutor’s Office were also detained for questioning Sunday, bringing the total number of top officials under investigation to five. 

The IDF Spokesperson’s Unit stated only that “several developments occurred during the evening” and that “decisions will be taken following a responsible review of the facts.” Police officials said the arrests were approved “after an assessment of risk determined she had not actually attempted suicide.”

Sources familiar with the case told Army Radio that Tomer-Yerushalmi is also suspected of fraud and breach of trust, in addition to obstruction. The police investigation focuses on the leak of a video aired on Channel 12 allegedly showing detainee mistreatment at the Sde Teiman base in southern Israel. Days after the IDF opened a criminal probe into the leak, Tomer-Yerushalmi submitted her resignation letter, acknowledging that she had approved sharing the footage with journalists. Her spokeswoman reportedly confirmed that admission in a Shin Bet polygraph test.

According to police, officers arrived at her home Sunday morning to coordinate a questioning session but found it empty. Around the same time, her daughter discovered a note in Tomer-Yerushalmi’s car parked near Hof HaTzuk reading, “Children, I love you. Be strong.” That message triggered fears she had taken her own life and launched a large-scale rescue operation involving special IDF and police units. 

Following the incident, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Israel Prison Service Commissioner Kobi Yaakobi ordered that Tomer-Yerushalmi be held under enhanced monitoring. “The preservation of life is paramount,” Ben Gvir said, emphasizing that “the investigation must proceed professionally to uncover the full truth in this affair that led to a blood libel against IDF soldiers.”

In a rare comment, another senior police official said investigators “lost valuable time” in recent days for reasons he could not elaborate on but insisted that “the investigative team is skilled and professional and will carry out its work without bias.”

The case marks one of the most dramatic internal crises in the IDF’s legal corps in decades, with investigators now pursuing what they describe as “a coordinated pattern of leaks and cover-ups” surrounding the release of classified military material to the press.