On March 24, 2016, Elor Azaria, an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldier, fatally shot Abdel Fattah al-Sharif, a Palestinian, in the head as the latter lay wounded on the ground in the Tel Rumeida neighborhood of Hebron. Al-Sharif had stabbed an Israeli soldier. Azaria was arrested and the Israeli Military Police opened an investigation against him for the charge of murder, but later reduced the charge to manslaughter.
The soldier's act sparked widespread public debate in Israel, that became a continuation of an already widespread debate over how one should implement the rules of engagement orders in the wake of the wave of Palestinian political violence.
Azaria was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 18 months' imprisonment, twelve months' probation, plus a demotion in rank. He was released from prison after serving nine months. The Palestinian Authority said the trial of Azaria was a farce. The family of al-Sharif, which had demanded Azaria receive a life-sentence, said that the Israeli military gives harsher sentences to Palestinian children convicted of throwing stones. In 2026, Azaria was pardoned by the president of Israel.
Incident
On 24 March 2016, two Palestinians armed with knives, Ramzi Aziz al-Tamimi al-Qasrawi and Abdel Fattah al-Sharif, approached an Israeli military post guarded by soldiers of the Shimshon Battalion of the IDF's Kfir Brigade in the Tel Rumeida neighborhood of Hebron and stabbed an Israeli soldier in the hand and shoulder, moderately injuring him. The soldiers opened fire, killing al-Qasrawi and seriously injuring al-Sharif.
A few minutes later, reinforcements arrived, including Elor Azaria, a medic from the battalion. Azaria approached the wounded al-Sharif and fatally shot him in the head while standing less than two meters away. A video of Azaria killing al-Sharif was published by B'Tselem, and went viral on Israeli social media, sparking controversy.
Investigation and trial
Following the shooting, Azaria's company commander, Major Tom Na'aman, reported it to the battalion commander, Lieutenant Colonel David Shapira, who in turn reported it to the commander of the Kfir Brigade, Colonel Guy Hazut. Four hours after the incident, an initial investigation was opened and Azaria was suspended from duty. After the video was posted to social media, and after a report by Colonel Hazut was submitted to Chief Military Advocate General Sharon Afek, a military police investigation was opened and Azaria was detained. Azaria was initially treated as a murder suspect, but on 31 March, prosecutors told a court they were looking into manslaughter charges. The initial investigation found that the shooting occurred three minutes after IDF soldiers shot and neutralized the knife-wielding assailants and pathologists ruled that Azaria's shot was responsible for the assailant's death and not his previous wounds. An IDF investigation whose details were revealed on March 27 found that Azaria had said the assailant "needs to die" before killing him. At trial, a fellow unit member testified that this was said after the shooting. In his testimony, Azaria denied he said that, and suggested other things he said may have been misinterpreted. The investigation also found that fellow soldiers had tried to calm him.
During a court hearing on 24 March, Azaria's attorney said the soldier feared the assailant had an explosive vest hidden under his shirt. IDF officials rejected this, saying the assailants had already been checked for explosives and that Azaria did not follow the procedures for such concerns before opening fire. During the investigation, Azaria also stated that the assailant tried to reach for a knife that was "within reach" of him, while video footage showed the knife was a significant distance away from the assailant, who was critically injured.
On 31 March, military judge Lieutenant Colonel Ronen Shor ordered the shooter released from jail to open arrest at his base, the headquarters of the Kfir Brigade. The judge, however, stayed this decision until the next day while the prosecution, which wanted his detention extended for a week, appealed against the decision. He was also barred from making any contact with the witness or carrying a gun. The prosecution's appeal was rejected on 1 April, with the shooter being transferred to open arrest on his base. A further appeal hearing by a military appeals court was set on 5 April. The military appeals court upheld the decision of the lower court on 5 April.
On 3 April, it was reported that both the Israeli and Palestinian pathologists had determined that it was Azaria's bullet which killed al-Sharif. It was also noted by the prosecution that the temperature during the incident was cold, so al-Sharif wearing a coat at the time wouldn't have been suspicious. The military prosecution announced on 14 April that the soldier will be charged with manslaughter. Azaria's identity had been kept under gag order, which was lifted on 18 April following his indictment. Vice News obtained a classified IDF document concerning the killing. The document described internal investigations concluding that Azaria had actually killed al-Sharif because he felt that "he needs to die" since he was a terrorist. The report stated that both Palestinian assailants had already been checked by another soldier before Azaria's arrival at the scene. It also stated that Azaria had changed his version of events during his questioning, stating that he shot the assailant because he felt that there was a threat to his life.
The trial opened on 9 May in a Jaffa court and Azaria was charged with manslaughter and conduct unbecoming of a noncommissioned officer. He denied the charge of manslaughter during his arraignment on May 23, pleading not guilty. The body of al-Sharif was returned to his family for his funeral, which was held on 28 May. On 29 May, Azaria's defence team demanded the body be returned, arguing its absence hampered legal proceedings.
IDF's lead investigator testified in court on 1 June that an ambulance driver, Ofer Ohana, who took many videos of the incident, had moved a knife thought to have been used in the earlier stabbing closer to al-Sharif and tampered with evidence to make it look like Azaria had killed him in self-defence. The prosecution's video footage revealed that the knife was lying three to four metres away from the injured al-Sharif and was thus out of his reach both before and after the shooting. Ohana, who was filming the incident, stopped his video after the shooting, moved the knife and then started the video again. The prosecution also showed additional footage which showed Azaria shaking hands with far-right activist Baruch Marzel. The lead investigator also stated that Azaria had sent a text message to his father, telling him that he made sure that the injured al-Sharif was killed. The prosecution showed footage which appeared to show Ohana kicking the knife towards al-Sharif after the shooting. Military prosecutors took a statement from Ohana and confiscated his phone after filing a warrant request in court. According to testimonies by eyewitnesses, the second attacker was also executed with a shot to head while lying on the ground after being incapacitated. A forensics expert testifying before the court on 8 June said that the video of the incident showing Azaria shooting al-Sharif had not been tampered with. Azaria's lawyer alleged that Imad Abu Shamsyieh, who documented the killing, wasn't there by happenstance. He also said that his son had been arrested a month and a half ago. Shamsyieh responded that his son had indeed been arrested but he had been released by the police later and hadn't done anything wrong. Azaria's commander, Major Tom Naaman, testified before the court on 16 June that the victim posed no danger and Azaria had said that the victim needed to die.
On 16 June, Dr. Hadas Gips, a pathologist from the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute, testified before the court. She stated that bleeding in al-Sharif's brain suggested that his heart was still beating when the bullet fired by Azaria hit his head. She also said that the rest of his wounds were not immediately fatal and that he could have been saved had he been given medical treatment. When questioned by the defence team about the potential consequences of the shootings which preceded the one by Azaria, Gips stated that even after a shooting to the head which paralyzes the brain centers, the heart continues to beat sporadically. So if al-Sharif was shot in the head beforehand, there wouldn't be bleeding in other parts of the body that are not in the brain. She stated that the shot to the head was the last shot. In response to the question of whether there could be movement in the limbs after the brain fails to function, she replied that there could be small muscle cramps but that she had have reservations about this and that it was outside her area of expertise.
On 5 July, Ohana was questioned by prosecutors. When questioned about the conversation he had with Azaria's father, he refused to divulge any details. When asked about the knife used by al-Sharif being moved, he answered that he had moved the knife closer after it had been moved further away from its original location by an ambulance driving away so that al-Sharif wouldn't be claimed to be another innocent person shot by Israelis. The prosecution, however, showed a video in which the knife was still far from al-Sharif's body even after the ambulance arrived. It also alleged that both Ohana and Azaria had attempted to cover up the fact that the shooting was in revenge and that he had told Azaria to lie to the police. Ohana denied this, saying that he only told Azaria he would help him get a lawyer. The prosecution further stated that Ohana lied when he said he thought that al-Sharif had a bomb, because he would not have moved so close to his body if that was the case.
Colonel Yariv Ben-Ezra, the commander of Hebron Brigades at the time of shooting, testified on 6 July that the shooting was unwarranted and that there were no explosives.
On 11 July, a soldier present at the scene testified that he saw Azaria cock his gun and heard him say that al-Sharif deserved to die.
David Shapira, another superior of Azaria who was present at the scene, testified on 12 July that Azaria never mentioned a bomb threat and only stated his fear of the knife next to the stabber. Shapira further stated that when he asked Azaria after the shooting about why he didn't kick away the knife, he responded that he felt threatened. Shapira stated that he then told Azaria that he didn't believe him and Azaria fell silent.
On 24 July, Azaria was cross-examined for the first time by the prosecution. Azaria stated that he shot al-Sharif when he started moving as he feared he might detonate an explosive device or would try to reach the knife near him. On 25 July, Azaria stated that the knife was not near al-Sharif, contradicting his earlier statement that it was. He also said that Tom Naaman had lied, stating Shapira was only involved second-hand.
On 26 July, the final day of the cross-examination, Azaria denied that his motive for shooting al-Sharif was revenge and that Shapira was lying. He said that the reason he shot al-Sharif was that people were shouting that al-Sharif had a bomb on him and that al-Sharif made him suspicious. Later in the evening, when questioned by the judges about why he didn't shoot earlier if he thought al-Sharif posed a danger to others, he replied that he didn't know. He also dismissed the videos submitted as evidence.
On 23 August, senior IDF Reserves officers Uzi Dayan, Shmuel Zakai and Dan Bitton, who were set to testify on Azaria's behalf, submitted their declarations to the court, which were subsequently leaked to the public. Dayan stated that the investigation against Azaria was unjustified and that the command as well as the management of the scene should be blamed. Zakai stated that the pictures of the incident certified that the prosecution was in error, and that Azaria acted out of a reasonable concern that al-Sharif may have been carrying a bomb. He blamed IDF command for the incident, asserting that they acted contrary to instructions. He also criticized Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon, IDF Chief of Staff, IDF Spokesperson as well as the Senior Command for their behavior after the incident, arguing that it destroyed any chance of Azaria receiving a fair trial. Dan Bitton criticized officers at the scene of the incident and argued that a "wrong verdict" will lead to a situation in which no soldier will be able to shoot to save lives. Azaria's legal team criticized the leak of their declarations and that it was done to prevent them from testifying for Azaria.