BICOM

The trial of Elor Azaria, the Israeli soldier who controversially shot dead a wounded assailant in Hebron, began yesterday in a Jaffa military court.

During the incident in March, the attacker stabbed two Israeli soldiers before being shot and incapacitated. Video footage from the Israeli human rights group B’tselem shows Azaria, several minutes later, opening fire and killing the wounded Palestinian. The incident sparked intense public debate, with politicians sharply clashing on the issue. Azaria has been condemned for unnecessarily killing the assailant. However, others have defended his actions, saying that the attacker could have been armed with explosives. Meanwhile, the IDF reiterated its rules of engagement and code of conduct in the wake of the incident.

At the opening of the trial the indictment of manslaughter was read out, which said: “The defendant caused the death of the terrorist… illegally,” as he “did not present a clear and present threat.” Azaria’s lawyer Binyamin Malka pledged: “The truth will come out. The path will be long. We will endure.” The presiding three-person judicial panel urged the two sides to reach a plea bargain during the coming week.

Meanwhile, this morning in Jerusalem three women in their 70s or 80s were wounded in a knife attack. They were among a group of five people walking in the Armon Hanatziv neighbourhood, near a popular promenade. However, they were approached by two masked individuals who stabbed the three women and fled the scene. The victims are said to have been moderately wounded and were treated at the scene before being taken to hospital. Police have launched a manhunt for the assailants and set up roadblocks in the area.

Knife attacks have been a regular feature during the wave of terror incidents since October, which has seen at least 31 Israelis killed by Palestinian attackers. Although the attacks have subsided in recent weeks, a bus bombing not far from where this morning’s attack took place injured twenty people just last month.