Israel sentenced four soldiers to ten days in prison for mouthing off on their social media accounts.  The four demanded revenge for the deaths of three Israeli teenagers in the West Bank, killings that investigators believe were carried out by members of the Palestinian group Hamas.

“This is a grave incident that is inconsistent with what is expected of soldiers in the Israel Defense Forces,” read the statement from the Israeli Defense Force (IDF).  “Any such incident that commanders learn of will be treated with the utmost severity.”

The justice ministry says it will investigate any calls for revenge made by civilians or civilian groups.

“The State Prosecutor’s Office and the police view such incitement extremely seriously, whether it is targeted at Jews or Arabs.  A criminal investigation will be opened,” the Justice Ministry said in another statement.

As tensions between Jews and Palestinians get worse, Israel has deployed more IDF units to the border with Gaza.  Before that, Israel launched air strikes on Gaza, injuring at least ten Palestinians.  That followed barrages of rockets from Gaza shot at Israeli territory – and for a change, they actually hit something, damaging two houses.  But the Hamas rockets continue to fall, endangering not soldiers but also civilians.

Meanwhile in the West Bank, the family of 17-year old Palestinian Mohammed Abu Khdeir may get his body from the coroner on Friday.  He was found dead and burned in a forested area of the West Bank in what Palestinians almost uniformly believe was a revenge killing carried out by Israeli settlers.