The IDF will take action against a soldier who was filmed firing his weapon into Gaza to celebrate the New Year, the military told The Jerusalem Post on Monday.
“The soldier documented in the video acted contrary to procedures, firing unprofessionally and not following orders,” the IDF stated in response to the incident. “The incident will be investigated in depth. Accordingly, steps will be taken against the soldier involved in the incident based on the findings.”
Footage of the incident showed the soldier firing a light machine gun, spraying bullets at a target not shown in the video.
Previous incident of IDF soldiers acting unprofessionally
The incident follows another recent documented incident of IDF soldiers acting unprofessionally when paratrooper commanders and soldiers vandalized Palestinian cars in the West Bank village of Dir Debuan in late December.
On Tuesday, the IDF announced that it sentenced the ringleaders in the incident to between 20 and 30 days in military prison for their roles in the incident.
Despite the sentence, none of the soldiers involved were expelled from the IDF. Still, the platoon commanders involved were expected to be relegated to desk jobs.