JERUSALEM — Allegations that Israeli troops killed a wounded Palestinian militant in custody and other high-profile accusations of soldier misconduct have sparked a wave of soul-searching about army behavior during more than four years of fighting with the Palestinians.
Human rights groups say fuzzy rules on the use of deadly force and the military's reluctance to investigate deaths of Palestinian civilians have created a culture of impunity among troops, and some recently discharged soldiers say abuses occur regularly.
Acknowledging there are serious problems, commanders have promised investigations into the incidents and committed to holding ethics refresher courses within the military, which is one of the central institutions in Israeli society.
"If we lose the moral high ground, it will undermine our military strength," Lt. Gen. Moshe Yaalon, the army chief, told reporters Tuesday. "We will not give up our moral standard in the name of combat."
The Israeli army confirmed Wednesday it had investigated the death of a 16-year-old Palestinian boy who was accidentally killed by Israeli machine gun fire while working in a Gaza Strip field with his father.
Some people also worry that abusive behavior by soldiers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip is creating a culture of violence within Israel itself, increasing domestic abuse, road rage and crime.
Questions about military conduct intensified following the killing of Islamic Jihad militant Mahmoud Kamil Dobie, 25, in the West Bank on Friday.
One of Dobie's relatives, Tayel Bzour, said the fugitive was wounded when he tried to flee from a naval commando unit that discovered his hideout. Bzour said the commandos ordered him and a neighbor to pick up Dobie, who was wounded but conscious, and carry him to the troops.
Bzour said he also handed over Dobie's pistol, and was told to leave.
"I got about 30 meters away when I heard the first shot," he said. "Then I turned and saw a soldier standing, face painted black, firing at Mahmoud. Then the same soldier fired five more bullets."
The military suspended the commando unit's activities in the West Bank on Monday and said it was investigating.
Even before the shooting, Israelis were growing concerned about soldiers' behavior.
On Oct. 5, a 13-year-old girl, Iyman Hams, was shot in Gaza as she walked near a military observation post, whose troops said they thought she was planting a bomb. A military indictment against the company commander charged that the officer approached the girl's crumpled body, shot her two more times at close range to ensure she was dead, began walking away and spun around and fired again.
The army has also been hit by accusations that soldiers have defiled the bodies of Palestinians and by criticism over a video showing a Palestinian playing the violin at a checkpoint, allegedly at the demand of soldiers.
The military blames the rise in abuses on four years of fighting — including searching for militants in urban areas and trying to sort civilians from potential suicide bombers at roadblocks — that have exhausted troops.
Critics agree, but they also point to increasingly loose — and often secret — rules on when troops can open fire and the rarity of soldiers being taken to task for killing civilians.
In the Palestinian uprising of the 1980s, military police investigated every Palestinian death. But in the latest uprising, the army has killed more than 1,600 Palestinian civilians while opening only 92 formal investigations, the Israeli human rights group B'tselem says. The army says it has indicted 27 people and convicted four.
"It's clear that we are talking about systemic problems within the military," said Jessica Montell, B'tselem's executive director. "In almost all cases, no one is held accountable for civilian deaths, and then the message sent to soldiers is that the cases of Palestinian deaths are not taken seriously."
Brig. Gen. Avi Mandelblit, the army's judge advocate general, said the rules were different in the 1980s because troops were mainly confronting stone throwers. He said the army considers the current fighting with Palestinian gunmen an "armed conflict short of war" that does not require formal investigations of every death.
Still, Yaalon called in every officer above the rank of major in recent weeks for face-to-face meetings on battlefield ethics.
"If we thwart terror attacks but are unable to look ourselves in the mirror, we have done nothing," Yaalon told one group of officers, according to a participant who agreed to discuss the session only if not quoted by name.
Responding to the growing number of troubling incidents, the military has reduced checkpoint duty from eight hours to six to ease stress on soldiers and plans to beef up lessons on morality for the troops.
Yaalon also created a team of officers and psychologists to interview hundreds of soldiers about the emotional toll of their service.
Some recently discharged soldiers formed Breaking the Silence, a group that publishes anonymous testimony as a way to unburden troubling memories. Dozens of soldiers have described opening fire on distant Palestinian protesters, taking pot shots at water tanks and looting homes and shops.
An organizer, Noam Hayut, 25, told the Maariv newspaper of his service outside the West Bank city of Ramallah at the Qalandiya checkpoint, which he called "the hate factory."
"The only thing we did was abuse people. I was not aware of what I was doing, the repression is very deep. One day I came home and my mother left an article about the Qalandiya roadblock on the table. It said 'roadblock officer goes crazy.' I was the officer," Hayut said.