TEL AVIV: Israeli military chiefs were yesterday forced to issue further warnings to new recruits about the use of social media after yet another embarrassing online scandal erupted.

In a photo uploaded to Instagram over the weekend, an IDF soldier could be clearly seen helping an old Palestinian woman across the road with her shopping. While the picture was quickly deleted and the account closed, it wasn’t before it had been picked up by several blogs and distributed internationally.

The soldier has since been identified as 20-year-old sergeant Yossi Glockenspiel.

Captain Eytan Buchman, a military spokesman, described the incident as “severe” and said Sunday that Glockenspiel’s conduct was still being investigated.

“We cannot ban our soldiers from using smart phones or mobile devices, but we are a military with strict orders and a moral and ethical code,” said the IDF’s head of interactive media, Avital Leibovich. “Unfortunately, the activity in this photo fell considerably short of this code, along with of the spirit and values of the occupation.”

The photo is the latest in a string of incidents in which soldiers have posted inappropriate material online. It comes just days after the IDF temporarily restricted Facebook access among its soldiers after a video was uploaded showing a Palestinian grandmother being allowed to pass a military checkpoint after only 90 minutes of aggressive interrogation rather than the regulation 140.