One IDF officer and three soldiers were detained on Wednesday for allegedly beating a Palestinian man while he was in custody. The man was hospitalized in serious condition.
Military police are questioning the soldiers and the officer, a lieutenant, to determine whether to open a criminal probe.
The four soldiers are reportedly saying that the man was injured in their custody, but that it was an accident. They said he fell while walking to and from the vehicle where he was being detained for alleged violent conduct.
There was no further explanation as to why he would have fallen while in their custody or how such a fall would require hospitalization.
Last week, in a separate incident, three soldiers were sentenced by a military court for beating a Palestinian man. Two of them were sentenced to 60 days in prison and the third was sentenced to 40 days.
Why the difference in the sentences?
The difference in the sentences reflected that the first two were convicted of committing acts of violence, whereas the third was convicted of the lesser crime of going beyond his authority in a way that could endanger human life.
While the first three soldiers were arrested on April 23, a fourth soldier was arrested later, on May 8, and the proceedings against him are ongoing.
According to the indictments, the four soldiers conspired together to bring the Palestinian into a vehicle, to beat him as they drove with him in the vehicle, and then left him injured and in a far away area alone. The soldiers then worked together systematically to try to cover up on the incident and obstruct their own prosecution.