IDF Navy Advocate Basic Maj.-Gen. Itay Offir will subject a number of main selections concerning Gaza battle crimes allegations within the coming weeks, The Jerusalem Publish has realized.
Amongst these selections, which would be the first that Offir shall be publicizing referring to Gaza since he took workplace in November 2025, would be the April 2024 World Central Kitchen incident, the March 2025 Palestinian Pink Crescent incident, and some different high-profile incidents.
In some methods, these shall be Offir’s opening transfer on his authorized enjoying area with the world, having made some monumental selections with largely Israeli implications in latest months.
One might name the IDF authorized division’s standing on the world stage part of the third of his three circles by which he focuses his efforts, the Publish understands.
The primary circle is inside the IDF authorized division itself.
Offir has a tall order of rebuilding the boldness concerning the IDF authorized division on a number of planes, however the first one is inner.
When his predecessor, Yifat Tomer Yerushalmi, all of the sudden resigned in October 2025, together with a few of her prime employees, after admitting to illegally publicly leaking a video of proof within the Sde Teiman saga case, morale within the IDF authorized division was at an all-time low.
Inside the authorized group and within the authorities extra broadly, officers from the IDF authorized division had at all times typically been seen as extremely proficient {and professional}, and so they find yourself rising to senior positions in giant corporations or to prime posts in numerous authorities companies.
One in every of Offir’s first jobs has been to rebuild that confidence.
As a way to try this, the Publish has realized that quickly after he took workplace, he set about assembly, over a collection of weeks, with each single sub-unit of the sprawling IDF authorized division, which has a number of hundred legal professionals and much more different assist employees on each border and in each sub-arm, such because the air drive and navy.
It was essential to Offir to listen to immediately from the IDF’s legal professionals, in sufficiently small teams that even junior legal professionals would communicate freely, what they wanted as a way to regain their swagger.
His second circle is between the IDF authorized division and the remainder of the IDF.
Right here, Offir has an enormous benefit.
He already labored carefully for 2 years with IDF Chief of Workers Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir, when the 2 labored on the Protection Ministry.
Put in a different way, he has already served as the highest lawyer of an company run by Zamir earlier than.
Simply as Offir turned one in all Zamir’s key shut advisers, and never only a lawyer, on the Protection Ministry, throughout Operation Roaring Lion, the IDF MAG was by Zamir’s aspect for many of the battle.
For 40 days, the Publish understands that Offir relocated from his commonplace MAG workplace area to the underground “Pit” the place Zamir managed the battle day-to-day with himself and just a few different generals from the excessive command.
Between these 40 days and Offir’s quite a few visits to the entrance in Gaza and Lebanon, IDF officers have remarked that the brand new MAG is far more snug within the area with commanders on the entrance than Tomer Yerushalmi was, and greater than another predecessors, although they too visited the fronts at instances. In actual fact, Offir is uncommon in that he served as a fight fighter within the Givati Brigade, one thing unusual for many IDF MAGs.
All of this additionally gave Offir extra respect and affect in among the latest Iran battle selections, reminiscent of clear directives to evacuate sure Iranian websites, which Israel had a authorized proper to assault, however which might result in unpredictably high-profile collateral hurt.
The ultimate circle is with the entire nation and the world.
Concerning this circle, one factor that’s totally different about Offir from some prior MAGs is that if a few of them would emphasize the slogan of Israel and the authorized division must “win on all fronts,” he would agree with that, however add that first, the IDF should win its kinetic wars.
In different phrases, Offir is cognizant of the significance of IDF and Israeli legitimacy on the planet, however he views his first job as facilitating the IDF to win battles – after all, at all times inside the confines of Israeli regulation and the spirit of the IDF.
This strategy will in all probability discover favor with some in Israel who, rightly or wrongly, have felt that the IDF authorized division has generally held the navy again an excessive amount of from performing to win.
But, none of because of this Offir will go smooth on actual authorized points.
In actual fact, Offir might return some stricter order in numerous areas than the IDF ambiance that took maintain beneath Tomer Yerushalmi following the October 7 invasion.
In Offir’s view, following the IDF’s senior officers’ failure to stop the Hamas invasion, many commanders felt they’d misplaced the standing to rebuke their troopers for smaller disciplinary screwups.
It’s public file that troopers have been swimming on Gaza’s seaside unauthorized within the early phases of the battle and {that a} sizable variety of lower-level officers ordered numerous Gaza buildings to be demolished with out correct higher-up authorization.
Offir has been performing and can proceed to behave to revive top-down self-discipline, each to make sure the regulation is adopted and to assist the IDF to return to being a extra targeted war-fighting machine the place orders are adopted and self-discipline is sacred.
WCK, Palestinian Pink Crescent high-profile alleged battle crimes incidents
Concerning the WCK incident by which Israel mistakenly killed seven worldwide help employees, a captivating twist is that Offir himself just isn’t making the choice.
In prior capacities because the Protection Ministry authorized adviser, Offir apparently labored very carefully with IDF Col. Nochi Mendel, a lead officer-suspect, on numerous tasks.
Though this doesn’t essentially technically disqualify him from rendering a call beneath “battle of curiosity” definitions the way in which it might if the 2 have been relations, Offir didn’t really feel like he might objectively choose Mendel, or at the least wished to take away even any notion of favoritism.
For that purpose, IDF Chief Prosecutor Col. Eli Levertov shall be issuing the choice concerning WCK.
Levertov turned IDF chief prosecutor in August 2025, solely round two months earlier than Tomer-Yerushalmi’s resignation.
Nonetheless, concerning the Palestinian Pink Crescent case, by which the IDF mistakenly killed worldwide help employees, and a few different case selections that shall be issued, Offir’s broader strategy is evident.
He is not going to look into these instances in a vacuum or from the angle of a regulation college professor in an ivory tower.
Slightly, he’ll have a look at the instances from the angle of the IDF having been engaged in a battle to topple Hamas in Gaza as a response to an enormous and monstrous invasion.
He may even be aware of all of Hamas’s strategies of systematically utilizing human shields and civilian places all through the Strip to struggle the IDF, together with utilizing ladies and kids with white flags to attempt to entrap and kill IDF troopers.
In different phrases, there shall be a heavy burden of proof to fulfill earlier than concluding that an IDF soldier who killed harmless Palestinians did so with deliberate intent, versus by mistake in tough circumstances and the grey fog of battle.
There could also be indictments and punishments for harming or killing Palestinians, reminiscent of an incident in February the place IDF troopers have been recorded beating an harmless Palestinian with none apparent trigger, or an incident earlier this month by which IDF troopers killed a Palestinian child in a automobile.
The Publish understands that there are greater than 5 further incidents the place IDF troopers beat Palestinians within the West Financial institution and are being probed or prosecuted since Offir took workplace.
One distinction between Offir and different MAGs could possibly be that he might make much less of a public present in such instances, although Israel might determine, on the diplomatic stage, to privately report them to worldwide our bodies just like the Worldwide Courtroom of Justice, so such our bodies can not declare that Israel doesn’t prosecute its personal.
Why Offir dropped the Sde Teiman indictments
One thriller has been how Offir determined to withdraw the indictments towards 5 IDF Drive 100 jail guard troopers within the giant Sde Teiman case.
The IDF MAG wrote an in depth determination explaining the 2 sides of the talk on the difficulty and why it finally determined to withdraw the indictments, whereas nonetheless not clearing the 5 troopers of non-criminal wrongdoing.
However there have been key issues that he didn’t handle in his public determination.
For instance, one purpose he cited for withdrawing the indictment was that the Palestinian detainee whom the 5 troopers have been accused of beating had been despatched again to Gaza.
With out his testimony, the prosecution’s case could be lacking main gaps.
However this element in and of itself raises a a lot bigger query: how on earth did the IDF prosecution enable a central witness to be despatched again to Gaza earlier than the trial towards his alleged attackers? Or at the least, why did they not take his testimony beneath a pre-trial process, which is particularly supplied for doing so, the place there may be concern {that a} witness, particularly a international one, may not be reachable for testimony later?
Offir was not but in workplace when the Palestinian detainee/alleged sufferer/key witness was despatched again to Gaza in October. This was accepted, or not blocked, by Tomer Yerushalmi.
Provided that finally she resigned for having leaked the Sde Teiman video towards the 5 troopers and delayed their trial for round a 12 months, it’s fairly potential that she, paradoxically, additionally let the witness go together with the hope {that a} plea deal is perhaps minimize to finish the case with no trial and keep away from her function in leaking the video being found.
Pressed whether or not Offir would have determined the case in a different way had the detainee’s testimony been taken earlier than he was launched to Gaza, as supplied for by Israeli felony process, he would doubtless demur. He would say that the controversy surrounding the case about how badly the 5 troopers had been harmed by the pre-trial leak of the video and the a number of ways in which Tomer Yerushalmi and a few of her prosecutors broke the regulation would nonetheless have made the case inconceivable to win in courtroom, and led to withdrawing it.
Curiously sufficient, whereas Offir is clearly involved in regards to the Worldwide Legal Courtroom (ICC) and Worldwide Courtroom of Justice (ICJ), like many different prime Israeli officers, he didn’t appear to weigh the precise impression of his Sde Teiman determination on how these our bodies will transfer towards Israel.
In different phrases, some may need stated it might be essential to deliver the 5 troopers to trial, even when the prosecution misplaced, to point out Israel’s dedication to bringing its personal troopers to trial after they allegedly beat Palestinian detainees.
By withdrawing one of many few and enormous instances towards Israeli troopers for his or her remedy of Palestinians, Offir and the IDF might have undermined Israel’s credibility earlier than the ICC and the ICJ.
Offir would doubtless reply that if he can not win a case in courtroom, he can not proceed, whatever the impression of the ICC and the ICJ. He may additionally add that these our bodies have already proven heavy bias in going after prime Israeli officers.
A brand new twist is that the Publish has realized that it has now turn into unclear what number of extra Sde Teiman-related indictments there could also be for numerous questionable Palestinian detainee deaths.
In February, the Publish reported, based mostly on sources, that there could possibly be fairly a number of on the way in which.
On the time, the Publish additionally reported that even with the anticipated new indictments, most of the deaths have been doubtless really instances of Palestinian fighters who have been mortally wounded on the battlefield and introduced again to Sde Teiman to see in the event that they could possibly be saved and interrogated, however didn’t finally make it.
Nonetheless, it additionally seems that one thing unclear might have modified concerning another potential Sde Teiman instances, the Publish understands.
It’s price noting that in February 2025, an IDF soldier was already convicted within the “small” Sde Teiman Palestinian detainee abuse case, with the defendant-soldier sentenced to potential further jail time, on prime of time he spent beneath arrest referring to the trial, if he would re-violate sure legal guidelines, and demoted to the rank of personal.
Little question Offir has performed super homework to make amends for all of the instances dealt with by Tomer Yerushalmi, however there may be gaps in these and different areas, provided that he solely got here into the image in November 2025 – in some cases, two years after the instances started.
One other twist within the Sde Teiman instances is that a few the 5 troopers who have been launched from being indicted managed to return to their models for sooner or later with out permission from prime IDF officers.
As soon as their return was made public, the Publish has realized that they have been re-suspended and their direct commanders will finally decide about whether or not they can return to service or whether or not the questions raised about their conduct disqualify them from this, although they weren’t convicted of against the law.
Prosecuting vandalizing Christian icons
On Might 11, an IDF Brig.-Gen. and Division 162 commander Sagiv Dahan sentenced a soldier to 21 days in navy jail as a part of a courtroom martial for desecrating a spiritual Christian image in southern Lebanon. An extra soldier was sentenced to 14 days in navy jail for filming the incident.
Though Offir and the IDF authorized division weren’t talked about in IDF press releases and technically issued no ruling, the Publish has realized that he was deeply concerned in all facets of dealing with the incident.
Offir was really among the many first to study of the incident amongst senior IDF officers and introduced it to the eye of Zamir.
Additional, Offir spoke to Dahan and defined to him that there wanted to be critical penalties for the incident, however that there have been two paths for doing so.
In a single path, Offir and the authorized division would take the lead, which might imply an extended and painful trial, and in the long run, the soldier would in all probability obtain across the identical punishment as a number of weeks in navy jail. It will be tough to provide a extra critical punishment, provided that no residing particular person was harmed. Within the public’s eyes, this may additionally pit the authorized division towards the IDF’s fight fighters.
Beneath a special path, Dahan himself might maintain a court-martial and provides the troopers a harsh sentence, with no need felony authorized intervention. Offir expressed that this is able to be quicker, ship a faster message to the world of zero tolerance, might result in the identical punishment, and would present a united IDF, with area commanders taking the lead in restoring self-discipline to their troopers.
Dahan selected the second path, and Offir clearly believes that this despatched a stronger and extra unifying message for the IDF and Israel as a complete. The IDF authorized chief’s capability to maneuver with senior IDF commanders got here in as an asset that not all IDF MAG’s have had.
Looting in Lebanon
A associated subject has been that senior IDF officers have admitted that someday in April, there was a pattern of some IDF troopers looting Lebanese properties of private possessions as a part of the invasion.
On one hand, the IDF dealt with this in a powerful method with Zamir issuing orders on April 28 to particular person battalion, brigade, and division commanders concerned within the Lebanon invasion to file reviews inside one week concerning whether or not incidents of theft of Lebanese private property had occurred of their particular models.
The 5 divisions concerned within the Lebanon invasion have been: 91, 36, 98, 162, and 146.
Publicly condemning the theft, Zamir stated, “The incidents towards our values which we now have seen are the results of an extended and complicated interval, however this doesn’t justify them. We can not compromise on our values.”
“The phenomenon of theft, if it exists, is a shame and will stamp a blemish on all the IDF,” stated Zamir.
“He added, “if there have been incidents like this, we’ll probe them. We can’t stand for this.”
Regardless of these robust statements, the Publish understands that there aren’t any anticipated indictments from Offir on the way in which – that means that whereas the IDF might have stopped the pattern as soon as it turned public, it doesn’t appear it has dug exhausting to punish these concerned.
That is considerably hanging because the IDF has prosecuted, convicted, and sentenced troopers for looting from foreigners in previous wars.
Sources indicated that it has been tough to go over particular people when plainly these troopers who witnessed incidents of theft relayed their basic impressions to media sources, however declined to file particular complaints to the navy police.
2023 Jabalya mass casualties and Lebanon Reuters incidents
The Publish has made repeated inquiries over time and extra just lately with the IDF concerning large-scale or controversial mistaken killing incidents in October 2023, one in Jabalya in northern Gaza and one in Lebanon.
In Jabalya, as much as 69 to 125 Palestinian civilians have been killed in a number of air strikes. Among the Jabalya incidents are amongst these which the IDF’s operational preliminary probes first began to look into early on within the battle.
IDF sources had informed the Publish in 2023 that the aim of 1 operation was to kill a senior Hamas official, and it seems that the IDF had factored in a small variety of civilian casualties
Nonetheless, the home that was struck led to the collapse of the tunnel beneath it, which in flip collapsed a variety of close by constructions.
Regardless of this info, which the Publish obtained off the file, Tomer Yerushalmi by no means gave a public and closing official accounting concerning the incident, and there aren’t any indicators that Offir is planning to both.
The Lebanon incident concerned IDF long-range strikes mistakenly killing Reuters reporters who had a automobile and equipment clearly marked PRESS.
In 2023, IDF sources defined that basically, the reporters have been in a form of kill zone space the place they need to not have been, so the IDF troopers who killed them assumed they have been Hezbollah. Additional, the IDF sources prompt that based mostly on the lengthy distance and angle of what the IDF troopers might see, they might not see the PRESS indicators.
Nonetheless, as soon as once more, Tomer Yerushalmi by no means issued an official public accounting, and it’s unclear that Offir, coming in two years later, will accomplish that, regardless of the occasion persevering with to obtain heavy and repeated protection within the worldwide media.
Within the broader analysis of Offir’s plans, the Publish understands that it could take one other 5 years to kind by and subject reviews on no matter key incidents the IDF will determine to make public.
Critics will slam the IDF for being sluggish, provided that some incidents are practically three years previous. Offir would doubtless reply that, with a battle that, up till June, has not ever actually fully stopped on all fronts, the clock for counting how lengthy it takes to subject reviews ought to begin from the current. Additionally, he would say critics ought to take into consideration that the over 3,000 incidents being probed can not all be investigated without delay, if for no different purpose, attributable to inadequate staffing.
By the way, 5 years could be across the anticipated finish of his time period , so Offir might intend to subject some controversial reviews as he’s leaving workplace.
GHF-IDF mid-late 2025 incidents
There continues to be a lack of awareness within the IDF authorized division on the standing of probes into the Might – October 2025 incidents with Palestinians relating both to the Gaza Humanitarian Basis (GHF) or to IDF troopers supervising the close by perimeter to the GHF meals help websites.
The Publish has realized that the IDF’s view is that many of the incidents the IDF or GHF are accused of concerning Palestinian civilian deaths are manufactured by Hamas or exaggerated. Nonetheless, the Publish has additionally realized that there have been a collection of incidents, doubtless within the single digits, by which IDF troopers in all probability did mistakenly kill single-digit numbers of Palestinian civilians.
Collectively, this is able to not depart the IDF chargeable for the immense quantity claimed by UN companies, some claiming over 800 and a few much more, however presumably within the low dozens.
These probes, the Publish understands, are nonetheless on the operational stage and haven’t even reached the IDF authorized division but.
ICC/ICJ
Offir and the IDF MAG will at all times be a essential piece in addressing and combating claims towards Israel on the ICC and the ICJ.
However one will get the impression that Offir is not going to look to be the lead participant in combating the difficulty, as former MAG Avichai Mandelblit was towards the notorious “Goldstone Report” after the 2008-2009 Gaza battle.
Slightly, Offir has excessive respect for the IDF Worldwide Regulation Division and can search to empower them and different arms of the federal government within the International Ministry, Justice Ministry, and Nationwide Safety Council to struggle these battles, which in any case, crossover past simply the authorized sphere.
Concerning South Africa’s latest determination to postpone its subsequent transfer towards Israel in its genocide case earlier than the ICJ for one more 18 months, which might push Israel’s subsequent response into 2029, whereas some are optimistic that this gave Israel respiration room, Offir is anxious that Pretoria might merely be searching for to attend out US President Donald Trump earlier than pouncing once more.
Caught between attorney-general and authorities
Up to now, Offir has not but had issues shuttling between prime authorities officers like Protection Minister Israel Katz and Legal professional-Basic Gali Baharav-Miara. This has been true regardless of the attorney-general and the federal government being at intense loggerheads now for over a 12 months.
Nonetheless, Offir knew each events earlier than this function.
In actual fact, he knew Baharav-Miara earlier than both of them was of their present roles, and he labored carefully with Katz as Protection Ministry authorized advisor.
These prior relationships and his robust capability to remain targeted have to date helped him work with each side with out getting caught up within the political battle.
He disagreed with Baharav-Miara concerning some right-to-protest incidents throughout the newest battle, however even these disagreements are skilled and respectful.
Plainly Offir has already, to a big extent, lifted the IDF authorized division out of an preliminary funk it fell into after the Tomer-Yerushalmi saga.
Whether or not Offir can proceed to remain out of the attention of the home political and worldwide battle crimes storms, whereas each serving to the IDF win kinetic wars, and sustaining its world legitimacy, is a tall order that he might want to reply within the years to come back.
