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.

The only survivor of the Air India crash has told Sky News he has been “broken down” by the trauma.

Air India Flight 171 crashed into a building, killing 241 people on board, just after take-off in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, on 12 June, with Briton Viswashkumar Ramesh the only passenger who walked away from the wreckage.

In an interview with Sophy Ridge on the new Mornings with Ridge and Frost programme, Mr Ramesh faltered, stumbled and regularly lapsed into long silence as he tried to recall the day.

Warning: This article contains details some may find distressing

Mr Ramesh, 40, was in the now-fabled seat 11a, which was located next to an emergency door that he managed to climb out of after the Boeing 787 Dreamliner crashed.

His younger brother, Ajaykumar, seated in a different row on the plane, could not escape.

Months on, Mr Ramesh wanted to share the impact of that day in an attempt to try to regain control of his life – and to pressure Air India into addressing the catastrophic effect of the crash on him and his family.

But it is clearly traumatic to talk about.

“It’s very painful talking about the plane,” he says softly.

Asked by Ridge if he can speak about what happened on board, he falls silent.

Just after the crash, from his hospital bed, Mr Ramesh told cable news channel DD India “there were bodies all around me” when he stood up after the crash. A further 19 people had been killed on the ground.

In hospital, he was still pleading for help in finding his brother.

“How is your life now?” Ridge asks.

He says the crash has left him feeling “very broke down”, adding it’s much the same for the rest of his family.

He does not leave the house, he says, instead sitting alone in his bedroom, doing “nothing”.

“I just think about my brother,” he adds. “For me, he was everything.”

He says he still cannot believe Ajaykumar is dead – but that’s as much as he can bring himself to say about him.

Ridge acknowledges the contrast between Mr Ramesh’s own survival – “a miracle” – and the “nightmare” of losing his brother.

It echoes the sentiment of Mr Ramesh’s other brother, Nayankumar, who told Sky News in June: “I’ve got no words to describe it. It’s a miracle that he [Viswashkumar] survived – but what about the other miracle for my other brother?”

Mr Ramesh says he is still suffering physical discomfort too, dealing with knee, shoulder and back pain, along with burns to his left arm. His wife, he says, has to help him shower.

He and his wife live in Leicester with their four-year-old son, Divang.

“I have a four-year-old, so I know what four-year-olds are like,” Ridge says. “They’re a handful but they can bring a lot joy as well. How has he been since the tragedy happened?”

Mr Ramesh says Divang is “okay” but, with his eyes lowered, adds: “I’m not talking properly with my son.”

“Does he come to your room?” Ridge asks.

He shakes his head.

Mr Ramesh was joined by Leicester community leader Sanjiv Patel and his adviser and spokesperson Radd Seiger for support as he spoke to Ridge.

“Sophy… this is an important question that you’re asking,” says Mr Seiger.

“You’re a parent, I’m a parent, and we all know that being a parent is a privilege, isn’t it? But it takes a lot of energy… you need to be in a good place to be a good parent, to have that from the moment they wake up to the moment they go to bed.

“You need to be in a good place and we can all see… he’s [Mr Ramesh] been robbed of that and I think it’s just a chore for him to just get through the day, let alone be a husband, be a father.”

What’s next for the crash’s sole survivor?

Mr Seiger and Mr Patel say the list of what he needs to get his life back on track is “endless” but that it starts with “practical things” such as financial support.

Mr Ramesh and Ajaykumar used “all their savings” to set up a fishing business in India, which saw them frequently flying there together from the UK.

The business has stopped running since the crash, meaning Mr Ramesh’s extended family in both the UK and India has no income, according to Mr Patel.

For them, it amounts to an “existential threat”, he adds.

They say Air India has offered Mr Ramesh a flat interim payment of £21,500 – a one-off sum given to a claimant in advance of reaching the end of a personal injury claim.

A spokesperson for Tata Group, Air India’s parent company, told Sky News that Mr Ramesh had accepted the payment and that it had been transferred to him.

But Mr Seiger says the sum “doesn’t even touch the sides” when it comes to everything Mr Ramesh needs while he is unable to work or leave his home – from help with transporting his son to school, to food, to medical and psychiatric support.

They are petitioning for more than just cash payments, which they suggest reduces Mr Ramesh to “a number on a spreadsheet”.

Rather, they want Air India’s chief executive Campbell Wilson to meet with him, his family and the families of other victims in the crash, to hear about their struggles and “talk as humans”.

Mr Patel said: “Meet the people. Understand what they’re going through. Relying on bureaucratic machinery to deal with real lives [of people] who are going through real trauma – the pain of that, the financial consequences – that is the day-to-day – how lives have been destroyed, and not just the immediate family, but extended families too.”

A spokesperson for Air India told Sky News: “We are deeply conscious of our responsibility to provide Mr Ramesh with support through what must have been an unimaginable period. Care for him – and indeed all families affected by the tragedy – remains our absolute priority.

“Senior leaders from across Tata Group continue to visit families to express their deepest condolences. An offer has been made to Mr Ramesh’s representatives to arrange such a meeting, we will continue to reach out and we very much hope to receive a positive response.

“We are keenly aware this continues to be an incredibly difficult time for all affected and continue to offer the support, compassion, and care we can in the circumstances.”

Mr Patel also claims the UK government took away Mr Ramesh’s family’s Universal Credit after they went to India following the disaster.

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According to the government’s website, those receiving Universal Credit can continue to do so if they go abroad for one month. This can be extended to two months if “a close relative dies while you’re abroad and it would not be reasonable for you to come back to the UK”, it states.

They are calling on Prime Minister Keir Starmer to look into the family’s circumstances and pressure Air India into doing more to help.

Mr Patel appeals to him, saying: “Take action today. If this was your family, what would you do? And if you understand that, you’ll know what to do.”

He suggests the UK government can also be doing more directly to help families in Britain who have been “devastated” by the crash.

“So while we wait for Air India to do what’s right, there’s what the UK authorities and the system can do as being right to serve the citizens in support during this tragic time,” he adds.

The Department for Work and Pensions told Sky News: “Our thoughts remain with the loved ones affected by this devastating tragedy.

“Our policy ensures people travelling abroad due to a bereavement can continue receiving Universal Credit for up to two months, rather than the standard one-month limit. Those who are abroad for longer periods would not be able to continue receiving the benefit.

“People can make a new claim once they return to the UK. This approach strikes a balance between our commitment to ensuring people get the support they need and our duty to the taxpayer.”

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Rescue teams are trying to free a worker buried under rubble in Rome after a medieval tower collapsed during renovation work.

Italy’s national fire department spokesman Luca Cari said they were trying to get the man, who was still stuck hours after the initial collapse, out alive, “but the situation is complex because of the risk of further collapses”.

The worker had displayed “signs of life” and had been given some protective cover during one of the rescue attempts, Rome’s top law enforcement official, prefect Lamberto Giannini, said.

Other equipment was being brought in to help what Mr Giannini called a “very complex” situation.

Predicting a “very long operation”, he said they “must try to save this person while mitigating the enormous risks to the people who are trying to save him”.

Another worker was seriously injured when the Torre dei Conti, near the Colosseum in the heart of Italy’s capital, collapsed twice on Monday.

Mr Cari said one worker was in hospital in a critical condition, while three other workers were pulled out unharmed.

Hundreds of tourists watched as firefighters used a mobile ladder to bring a stretcher to the upper level to rescue the worker from the 29-metre (95 ft) tower, where he was trapped by the first collapse, sometime before noon.

But, during the attempt, another part of the structure collapsed, sending up a cloud of debris and forcing firefighters to retreat quickly.

‘I saw the tower collapse’

Large clouds of dust filled the area after the incidents, along with the sound of collapsing masonry, leaving the structure standing, but with significant internal damage.

Gelato shop worker Queen Paglinawan, 27, said she heard the two loud noises from the town in quick succession.

She said: “I was working and then I heard some like falling, and then I saw the tower collapse in a diagonal way.”

German student Viktoria Braeu, 18, said: “We were just at the Colosseum … and we were just walking to get some food. … And then we were like, ‘It’s probably not long until it’s going to go down,’ and then it just started erupting.’

Four firefighters later approached the first-floor window on two mobile ladders, but were quickly pulled back when dust began to rise.

Drone used to see worker

No firefighters were injured in the ongoing operation.

A drone was then flown up to check the condition of the trapped worker.

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Torre dei Conti (Tower of the Counts) has not been used since 2006 and was being worked on as part of a four-year renovation project due to end next year, Rome city authorities said.

The surrounding area was closed off to pedestrians during the work.

Located on Via dei Fori Imperiali, the tower was built in 1238 by Pope Innocent III for his family and was originally twice as high, but was scaled down after damage from earthquakes in the 14th and 17th centuries.