A video showing Israeli soldiers laughing as they beat a Palestinian father and son while holding them in custody has been released by an Israeli military court.

The Jaffa Military Court – which last week convicted three soldiers of aggravated assault and aggravated battery – yesterday cleared the video for publication, lifting a gag order imposed by the Israeli Army, the Times of Israel has reported.

#Israeli Channel 13 broadcasts a horrible video footage of Israeli occupation soldiers torturing a #Palestinian young man and bragging about it. pic.twitter.com/RrSYmSQ5I5 — Quds News Network (@QudsNen) March 12, 2019

Though the faces of both the soldiers and their victims have been pixelated to hide their identity, the soldiers can be seen hitting the two Palestinians on the head in the back of an army truck. The two Palestinians can be seen lying on the vehicle’s floor with their eyes covered, while the soldiers laugh and joke for the camera.

“It’s your party, say hello,” the soldiers tell the father and son while forcing them to say hello to the camera. The Palestinians cry out in pain as they are hit repeatedly.

Israeli court releases edited video of IDF soldiers beating detained, bound + blindfolded Palestinian father + son: the father's injuries "were so severe investigators could not question him". Both were taken to Shaare Zedek hospital, the father for 3 days https://t.co/DTzj4sV20c — Marian Houk (@Marianhouk) March 12, 2019

The video served as the key piece of evidence in the soldiers’ trial, which came to a close on Sunday. Three of the soldiers investigated for the incident were handed 190-day jail terms and demoted to the rank of private after they “expressed remorse” for their actions and reached a plea bargain.

The soldiers are, however, expected to be treated leniently and will be allowed to go home for the Jewish Passover holiday in April as well as have three months’ probation.

The convicted soldiers were arrested in January after it emerged that they had beaten two Palestinians detained near the West Bank city of Ramallah.

(MEMO, PC, Social Media)