Israeli soldier gets 18 months in prison for executing wounded Palestinian attacker in Hebron

An Israeli soldier who executed a wounded Palestinian attacker has been sentenced to one and a half years in prison in a military trial that has deeply divided Israel.

The sentence is lighter than the three to five years asked for by military prosecutors and significantly more lenient than the 20 years he could have faced.

Sergeant Elor Azaria, 20, was arrested last year after video emerged of him shooting a Palestinian man as he lay bleeding in the street in the West Bank city of Hebron.

The Palestinian, 21-year-old Abdul Fatah al-Sharif, had stabbed an Israeli soldier moments before and had been shot but not killed by other Israeli troops.

The video footage shows Sgt Azaria cocking his rifle and shooting the man once in the head as he lay motionless at the feet of Israeli forces.

Judge Maya Heller, the head of a three-judge panel in the case, said that Azaria "took upon himself to be both judge and executioner".

But within moments of the verdict being read out, Israeli government ministers began clamoring for a pardon for Azaria, who has become a folk hero for some on the Israeli Right.

“The security of the citizens of Israel demands an immediate for Elor Azaria, who was sent to protect us,” wrote Naftali Bennett, the leader of a pro-settler party within Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government.

“This process was tainted from the beginning. Elor must not go to jail, because we will all pay the price.”

Human rights groups warned that pardoning the soldier would undermine the verdict’s “important message about reigning in excessive use of force”

“Pardoning Azaria or reducing his punishment would only encourage impunity for unlawfully taking the life of another person,” said Human Rights Watch.

The family of the dead Palestinian man had called for Azaria to be sentenced to life in prison.

Supporters of Azaria gathered outside the Israeli defence ministry, where the trial took place, to chant and wave banners in solidarity with the young soldier.

A protest when Azaria was convicted in January