Jerusalem (AFP) - An elite Israeli soldier has been jailed and demoted after posting a video of himself shooting a camel from his car while driving on a desert road, the army said Wednesday.

"A military court sentenced the soldier who indecorously shot a camel to four months in military prison," the army said in a statement to AFP.

He was also demoted to the rank of private, it said.

A second soldier who filmed the event and can be heard laughing on the video was sentenced to two months in a military prison and also demoted.

In the video, which is only a few seconds long, the two men drive along a road in what appears to be the Israeli desert.

As they pass a camel, one of the men fires a single shot from a pistol straight at it.

The camel later died, according to Israeli media reports.

The video prompted widespread outrage on social media after it was posted online.

"The IDF decries the torture of animals, and this case was unfortunately even more extreme as IDF equipment was used for that purpose," the army said.

Israeli media reported the two were from the elite Duvdevan special operations unit of the military.