An IDF lieutenant who served in the same unit as the intelligence officer who died while in a military detention center in 2021 died three weeks ago by falling off a building in an apparent suicide, Israel Hayom has learned.
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A preliminary investigation suggests the officer decided to end his life due to personal distress, although a connection with the death of Capt. T last year has not been ruled out.
T, who was arrested in September 2020 and was awaiting trial, was hospitalized in critical condition on the night between May 16-17, but doctors were unable to save him.
The IDF said in a statement that the officer, who had served in a technical division of the Military Intelligence Directorate, knowingly carried out a series of actions that severely compromised state security. It appeared that he acted independently, for personal rather than ideological or financial motives.
Whether the two cases are connected remains unclear, as does the question of how the Military Intelligence Directorate – which has been under scrutiny for the case of Capt. T. since last year – failed to identity the distress of one of its lieutenants.
Sources involved in the matter said the Military Intelligence Directorate might have to reexamine how it picks the IDF's best and brightest, and commanders will be expected to identity warning signs among subordinates.
Israel Hayom also learned that the officer's suicide is the fourth to occur within the same unit this month alone, a staggering number, especially compared to 2021, when 11 soldiers took their life over the span of 12 months, or 2020, when nine suicides were reported.
Nevertheless, the number of suicides by IDF soldiers has decreased in recent years as the military took steps to provide soldiers with more outreach.
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