Israeli military's former top lawyer arrested

Israel's former top military lawyer has been arrested after admitting leaking a video of soldiers allegedly abusing a Palestinian prisoner.

The growing scandal comes as Israel handed over the bodies of 45 Palestinians, according to health officials in Gaza.

An Israeli official said ex-military advocate Major General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi was taken into custody overnight on Sunday - just a few days after resigning from her post, reported the Associated Press news agency.

She was arrested when a search was carried out along the Tel Aviv beach after concerns for her safety were raised by her family, reported Israel's Channel 12.

Former chief military prosecutor Colonel Matan Solomesh was also arrested overnight as part of the investigation into the leaked video, reported Israel's Army Radio.

The leaked footage was aired last year purporting to show an incident involving soldiers and a Palestinian prisoner at the Sde Teiman detention facility in southern Israel.

The developments came as the bodies of the Palestinians were received at Nasser Hospital, in Gaza, on Monday morning, a Gaza health ministry spokesperson told the Associated Press.

The release of the bodies came a day after Israel said Hamas had handed over the remains of three Israeli troops taken hostage on 7 October 2023.

Israel said the troops were killed in the attack on southern Israel before their bodies were dragged by militants back to Gaza.

A Hamas statement said the remains were found on Sunday in a tunnel in southern Gaza.

The three troops have been identified as Captain Omer Neutra, an American-Israeli, Staff Sergeant Oz Daniel and Colonel Assaf Hamami, according to the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Since the ceasefire started on 10 October, Palestinian militants have released the remains of 20 hostages, with eight now remaining in Gaza.

Hamas has released one or two bodies every few days.

Israel has demanded faster progress and, in some cases, has said the remains were not those of any hostage.

Hamas has said the work to return the bodies has been complicated by the widespread devastation in Gaza.

Israel has been releasing the remains of 15 Palestinians for each hostage returned.

Health officials in Gaza have struggled to identify bodies without access to DNA kits.

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Only 75 of the 225 Palestinian bodies returned since the ceasefire began have been identified, according to Gaza's health ministry.

About 1,200 people were killed and 251 kidnapped in the Hamas terror attack that sparked the war two years ago.

Officials in Hamas-run Gaza say more than 68,600 Palestinians have died.

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