IDF court releases suspect in Hebron kidnapping
Military court releases soldier suspected of opening fire on Palestinian bystander during unauthorized raid in village near Hebron
The soldier, who is suspected of shooting and injuring a Palestinian bystander, has been allowed to return to his unit while the court reviews all the evidence in the case. The remand of the officer who headed the unit accused of the kidnapping has been extended by five days.
On Sunday the Military Prosecution appealed a military court's decision to release five soldiers who were involved in incident.
The officer is suspected of having issued orders to four soldiers to kidnap a taxi driver and enter the village where a bystander was shot and injured.
The shooting incident, which occurred Thursday in Kfar Dahariya south of Mount Hebron in the West Bank, at first appeared to be a common security incident.
According to the investigations thus far, it appears the IDF force arrived at the West Bank village by helicopter, and was supposed to patrol the area. At a certain stage the commander decided to steal a Palestinian taxi and carry out a raid in the village without authorization.
Soldiers stopped a taxi at random, told its passengers to get out and tied up and blindfolded the driver. Two of the soldiers who were in civilian clothing stayed with the cab driver, while the others hid themselves inside the hijacked vehicle.
After a short ride in Dahariya they apparently realized their actions were illegal and started heading back. At a certain point a Palestinian carrying a shovel neared the vehicle and the troops called on him to stop.
When the man failed to stop, the commander, apparently feeling threatened, ordered the soldiers to open fire. After wounding him, they left him bleeding on the street and fled the scene on foot.
