An Israeli military court has denied bail for a 16-year-old Palestinian girl, ordering her held until her trial on charges that she slapped and pushed two Israeli soldiers.

Wednesday's ruling in the high-profile case against Ahed Tamimi was denounced by rights activists and her father, who said Palestinians cannot expect justice in Israel's military court system.

In the mid-December incident, captured on video, Tamimi is seen slapping the soldiers outside her West Bank home. Her family says she was upset because a 15-year-old cousin had been seriously wounded by Israeli troops in stone-throwing clashes earlier that day.

Many Palestinians have embraced Tamimi as a symbol of resistance to Israel's half-century-old military occupation. Senior Israeli politicians have called for prosecutors to be tough and make an example of the teen.