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 at the Hebron area Palestinian village of Jinva on Friday night last week, 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.
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.
The authorized raids
Moreover, the soldiers involved also broke and destroyed equipment using methods of searching which 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.
IDF 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 has accused the police of systematically failing to probe violence and property destruction against Palestinians.
