Around 400 Israelis gathered on a hill overlooking the "number six" military prison where the men are being detained near the northern port of Haifa, organisers told AFP.

They held aloft placards denouncing "service in an occupation army" and calling for the release of the "conscientious objectors".

They later dispersed without incident.

The demonstration was organised by various Israeli pacifist groups and parents of the jailed soldiers.

A military court in Jaffa, near Tel Aviv, jailed the five soldiers, all aged around 20, after the judges overruled their refusal to serve in the army on grounds of conscience.

Unlike the others in Israel's growing refusenik movement, the five refused to serve in the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) in any sphere, not just in the occupied Palestinian territories, on grounds of conscience.

But the judges said their plea was "politically motivated" and therefore ruled that they should not be treated as conscientious objectors.

The five were already on remand for a year, serving three months behind bars and another nine months in an open prison.

All 18-year-old male Israelis are conscripted into the army for three years, and women for 21 months.

Only Orthodox Jews are exempted on religious grounds and only women can opt for community work instead of military service.

WAR.WIRE