CHAOS erupted at a Tel Aviv military court yesterday when an Israeli soldier was convicted of the cold-blooded killing of a wounded Palestinian.

Sergeant Elor Azaria was convicted of manslaughter for shooting dead Abdel Fattah al-Sharif in March in the illegally occupied West Bank city of Hebron.

He fired into Mr Sharif’s head at point-blank range as he lay bleeding on the ground after being shot and wounded while allegedly trying to stab Israeli occupation troops.

Delivering the three-hour verdict, Colonel Maya Heller, head of the tribunal’s panel of three judges, rejected Sgt Azaria’s contradictory claims that the attacker was already dead or that he had posed any threat at the time, telling him he “couldn’t have both sides of the stick.”

She called his testimony “unreliable” and said he had “needlessly” shot the victim.

“We found there was no room to accept his arguments,” Col Heller said. “His motive for shooting was that he felt the terrorist deserved to die.”

The victim’s father, Yousri al-Sharif, welcomed the conviction, but in Ramallah the Palestinian Authority’s Foreign Ministry called the trial a “farce” intended only to “absorb” international condemnation.

The verdict prompted uproar, with one female relative thrown out of court for screaming at the judges and a second woman storming out, shouting: “Disgusting leftists.”

Outside the court, far-right supporters of the defendant scuffled with police and assaulted journalists.

Some made veiled death threats against Israeli army chief General Gadi Eizenkot, chanting: “Gadi, Gadi, watch out. Rabin is looking for a friend,” a reference to prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, who was assassinated in 1995 after signing the Oslo accords.

Several ministers and opposition MPs immediately called for Sgt Azaria to be released.

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