The conviction was the first by an Israeli court of widespread human rights abuses by troops
during a three-week offensive that was censured by the international community
for its toll on Palestinian civilians.
The two infantry sergeants
seized control of an apartment building in the Gaza City suburb of Tel Al-Hawa
district on Jan. 15, 2009 while under fire, according to a summary of the
verdict. Rounding up residents, they came across bags in a bathroom and ordered
a nine-year-old boy from the group of civilians to check if they had been
rigged with explosives.
"The boy, who feared for
his fate and was under the stress of the situation, wet his pants," the
three-judge panel wrote in the verdict. "The court has noted that, unlike
the soldiers, the child was, naturally, bereft of any form of protection."
The boy opened a bag
belonging to his family, but when he failed to open another, the soldiers
pulled him back and shot at it, endangering everyone present, the verdict said.