The IDF on Monday night announced that it had sentenced two soldiers and two lower-level commanders to seven days of military detention or to being limited from leaving their military base for sacking certain sites in the Palestinian town of Jinva in Hebron on Friday night during a raid.
In addition, the brigade and battalion commanders received warnings in their permanent military files for not preventing the soldiers’ actions or failing to properly train them.
The raids
Although the raid was authorized to search for illegal weapons, the sites in question – a school and a pharmacy – were not authorized to be searched.
Moreover, the soldiers involved also broke and destroyed equipment using methods of searching that were overly aggressive and would not have been allowed even had the raid itself been authorized.
Next, the IDF soldiers and officials involved covered up the incident and were only found out due to a video of their actions distributed on social media.
Military officials were unsure if the Palestinians would be reimbursed for the destruction, though one official suggested the Palestinians might be able to submit claims to the Defense Ministry.
IDF Central Command Head Maj.-Gen. Avi Bluth said the incident was a grave violation of IDF values.
Despite Bluth’s criticism of the officers and soldiers involved, there are regular reports of similar incidents, which generally seem to go uninvestigated unless there is video evidence.
The Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) has accused the police of systematically failing to probe violence and property destruction against Palestinians.