WhatsApp and Facebook (illustration)
WhatsApp and Facebook (illustration)Reuters

Two soldiers who were involved in leaking a list of IDF soldiers killed in action during Operation Protective Edge were punished by their commanders in a military trial, Channel Two reported Thursday.

One of the soldiers was sentenced to a week in the brig, and the second was given a "stern warning" about repeating his actions.

The two soldiers are accused of releasing the names of soldiers killed in July, when 13 IDF soldiers were killed when an APC exploded in Gaza. The two were accused of releasing the names to members of their Whatsapp instant messaging group.

The release of the names filtered out from the large group that received it, and several of the parents of those killed heard about their sons' deaths over the Internet, before being informed by the IDF. Several names were also incorrectly placed on the list, causing much anguish to parents who thought their sons had been killed but were actually still alive.

An IDF spokesman said that the army's investigation “result in disciplinary proceedings against two soldiers by their commanders, with a subsequent appropriate punishment.”