The Israeli soldier who shot a Palestinian attacker in Hebron arriving to a hearing at a military court near Kiryat Malachi, Israel, March 29, 2016. (Pool/Flash90)

JERUSALEM (JTA) — The trial of the Israeli soldier who was captured on video shooting an already downed Palestinian assailant in the head opened.

The manslaughter charges against Sgt. Elor Azaria, 19, of Ramle, were read Monday in Jaffa Military court. Azaria is also accused of violating the rules of conduct and inappropriate conduct.

The panel of judges urged the two sides to come to a plea agreement, and said that the evidence against Azaria is weak, Ynet reported.

The court also denied the soldier’s request to be furloughed for Independence Day. The accused was granted a release for Passover last month.

Azaria is being held in open detention until the end of the case. He has freedom of movement on his military base, but cannot carry a firearm and cannot be in contact with witnesses.

Azaria in March shot Abdel Fattah al-Sharif in Hebron, a West Bank city that has been a focal point of a seven-month wave of Palestinian violence against Israelis. He arrived on the scene after al-Sharif and an accomplice had stabbed Israeli soldiers and the accomplice had been killed.

The soldier has said that when he shot al-Sharif, who was lying on his back unarmed, he feared the Palestinian man, who was wearing a bulky coat, might be about to detonate an explosive.

The autopsy showed that the soldier’s shot to the head was what killed the assailant.

The indictment claims that Azaria did not believe that the assailant was an immediate danger to those around him when he shot the Palestinian man as he lay on the ground.

The case marks the first time in over 10 years that an Israeli soldier has been charged with manslaughter for a killing that took place during field operations.

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