Seventeen soldiers from the Israel Defense Forces' Golani Brigade abandoned their posts at the Hermon bunker for an hour and a half on Wednesday, in protest of what they called humiliating treatment from their commanders. The soldiers were sentenced to a week in prison on Thursday.

On Wednesday night, the soldiers decided to leave the bunker, located at the top of Mt. Hermon on the border with Syria, and descend to the entrance to the Hermon nature site. The Golani Brigade commander, Col. Yaniv Assur, arrived on the scene, and convinced the soldiers to return to their base.

The incident was reported on Thursday by Army Radio, to which a parent of one of the soldiers said "the whole platoon took their bags, and meant to go home."

The IDF Spokesperson responded to the incident. "The incident will be investigated by the brigade commander, who considers it to be very serious, and as such ordered that the soldiers be tried and punished with jail sentences. The soldiers involved returned to their base a short time later, and expressed regret over their actions. At no point did the incident hamper operational preparation at the base. Standard IDF procedure distributes operational and logistical duties evenly among soldiers. The IDF denounces any incident of refusal to follow orders."

