ISRAEL arrested former military advocate-general Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi yesterday for leaking footage of the rape of a Palestinian prisoner.

Ms Tomer-Yerushalmi was the Israeli military’s most senior legal officer before resigning last week, admitting it was she who leaked the horrific recording. It shows soldiers at the Sde-Teiman army base isolating a Palestinian detainee and then sexually assaulting him with a sharp object.

Five reservists were charged in August last year over the incident, prompting months of attacks by Israeli politicians on those behind the investigation for damaging the reputation of the army.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has referred to the prosecution of the soldiers as “perhaps the most severe propaganda attack Israel has faced since its establishment,” while Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said the perpetrators should be seen as “heroes, not villains.”

Ms Tomer-Yerushalmi said on her resignation that she had released the footage to answer attacks on her organisation by demonstrating that the abuse of the prisoner — who suffered a ruptured bowel, severe anal and lung injuries, and broken ribs in the assault, according to Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz — was real.

Israeli police said they arrested two people on “suspicions of leaking and other serious criminal offences.” The other is believed to be Colonel Matan Solomosh, the former chief military prosecutor.

Israel’s treatment of Palestinian detainees has attracted renewed attention amid current exchanges of bodies with Gaza’s ruling Hamas group, a condition of the ceasefire deal agreed last month.

Many of the bodies of Palestinians returned to Gaza have bound hands, implying they were executed in custody, while Palestinian doctors say many also show signs of torture.

Health officials in Gaza said Israel handed over another 45 bodies yesterday, after Hamas handed over the remains of three Israeli soldiers.

Two Palestinians were killed yesterday in the West Bank. Ahmed Rabhi al-Atrash was shot dead by a settler north of Hebron, with the Red Cross saying Israeli soldiers prevented their reaching him to provide medical assistance. A 17-year-old, Jameel Hanani, was shot dead in Beit Furik by Israeli troops.

Israeli air strikes killed two people in Lebanon. Air strikes also took place over Gaza yesterday.