In one of his first moves, new Military Advocate General Maj. Gen. Itai Ofir decided on Tuesday to close a criminal case against a senior reserves officer who was facing charges over his involvement in the circumstances that led to the deaths of a soldier and a civilian researcher in southern Lebanon in November 2024.
Col. (res.) Yoav Yarom will not face criminal charges. Ofir recommended instead that he be disciplined within the military. Prosecutors in September had said they would seek to file an indictment against the reserve officer, accusing him of reckless homicide.
The Israel Defense Forces said that an investigation into another individual involved in the incident would also be closed without criminal proceedings.
The families of Sgt. Gur Kehati, 20, and civilian researcher Ze’ev Erlich, 71, were updated on the decision, the IDF said. Kehati’s family slammed Tuesday’s decision, the attorney representing them in the case said. “The minimum that is required is that those responsible for the disaster be held accountable for their crime,” he said.
On November 20, 2024, Yarom — who served as chief of staff of the Golani Brigade in the reserves — allowed Erlich to enter the western sector of southern Lebanon, in IDF uniform, to examine an archaeological site without the necessary approvals. Erlich had long served in the military reserves despite his advanced age, but was not in active service at the time of his entry into Lebanon.
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The visit took place at the height of an Israeli ground offensive against the Hezbollah terror group in southern Lebanon, a week before a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah brought a halt to more than a year of hostilities. The Times of Israel and other journalists had been escorted by the army to an adjacent village at the same time.
Sgt. Gur Kehati. (Israel Defense Forces)
Yarom and Erlich were joined by a team of soldiers as they entered a medieval fortress in the southern Lebanese village of Shamaa, revered by Christians and Shiite Muslims as the 1st-century burial place of Saint Peter.
Believing the area had been cleared of threats, Yarom led Erlich and accompanying troops to the site, where two Hezbollah operatives ambushed the forces, killing Erlich and Kehati. An officer was seriously wounded, and Yarom himself was moderately wounded, before the gunmen were killed.
Israeli researcher Zeev Erlich, seen in IDF uniform before entering southern Lebanon on November 20, 2024, hours before he was killed in a gun battle with Hezbollah operatives. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
Following an extensive Military Police investigation, the Military Prosecution in September decided to indict Yarom with the charge of reckless homicide, subject to a hearing.
The IDF said that immediately upon entering the role in late November, and due to the statute of limitations for the applicability of military law in the case, Ofir decided to hold a hearing with Yarom and the prosecution team.
Before the hearing, new testimony was taken from the seriously wounded commander, which could not have been obtained earlier due to his injury, the army said.
“The combination of the investigation findings that were collected, together with the additional testimony that was taken, as well as evidence presented and submitted during the hearing by the defense, including a series of opinions from commanders past and present regarding Erlich’s areas of expertise and their reliance on him in an operational framework, led the Military Advocate General’s Corps to decide not to prosecute Col. (res.) Yoav Yarom criminally,” the IDF said in a statement.
Military Advocate General Maj. Gen. Itai Ofir speaks at a ceremony marking his entry to the role, at the IDF HQ in Tel Aviv, November 27, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)
The military said that the investigation material showed that the visit to the site “had been planned in advance by the commander of the force… and was required for operational purposes.”
According to the military, Golani Brigade commander Col. Adi Gonen had instructed a team to head to the area to investigate the death of another Golani soldier in a battle with Hezbollah five days earlier.
The IDF said that it was not possible, legally speaking, to refute Yarom’s claims that he joined the patrol “for operational reasons” and that Erlich was also included in the tour “for operational reasons.”
The army added that it “shares in the deep sorrow” of the Kehati and Erlich families.
Israeli troops operate in southern Lebanon, November 20, 2024. (Emanuel Fabian/Times of Israel)
Kehati’s family outraged
Col. (res.) Ran Cohen Rochverger, the attorney representing Kehati’s family, responded to Ofir’s decision by saying that the family received the announcement “with shock, frustration and pain.”
“The family cannot understand how just two months ago the Military Advocate General’s Corps announced its intention to file an indictment against Yarom for the offense of reckless homicide, and today the decision was reversed,” Rochverger said.
“Nothing will bring Gur back to the family, but the minimum that is required is that those responsible for the disaster be held accountable for their crime,” he said, adding that the family would decide how to proceed on the matter, while “also taking into account that the announcement was delivered only one day before the expiration of the applicability of the Military Justice Law to the suspect.”
Yarom requested to resign from his position a week after the incident, though he was already slated to be dismissed after recovering from his wounds.
Erlich was retroactively recognized by the IDF as a major in the reserves despite not being on active duty when he was killed.
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