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IDF soldier who killed wounded terrorist to be freed in May

Elor Azaria, a soldier who eliminated a neutralized terrorist in Hebron, will be released in mid-May, decided the IDF parole board.

By: TPS

Elor Azaria, the IDF soldier who shot dead an incapacitated terrorist in Hebron, will go free in May after serving two-thirds of his 14-month sentence for manslaughter, the IDF parole board decided Monday.

Azaria is expected to be released on May 10.

Azaria had asked to be released in time for Passover, which begins the night of March 30, but military prosecutors would only agree to reduce his sentence by one-third, not by half.

Azaria was convicted last year of manslaughter for the March 24, 2016 shooting of Abdel Fatah al-Sharif, a terrorist who had tried to stab two soldiers several minutes earlier in Hebron. Video footage shows Azaria shoot Sharif after the latter had been neutralized and no longer appeared to pose a threat.

The incident sparked a national debate about military ethics in the IDF. Azaria claimed he shot al-Sharif because he feared he was wearing a suicide belt and had moved to detonate it.

“Had I known [al-Sharif] was not wearing an explosive belt, I definitely would not have shot him,” Azaria wrote in an October appeal last year that resulted in his sentence being reduced from 18 to 14 months.