The Samaria District Military Court sentenced Amjad Awad, one of two
cousins convicted of brutally murdering five Fogel family members in
the Itamar settlement last March, to five life terms and seven years.
Awad and his cousin, Hakim Awad, entered the home of the Fogels,
stabbing and shooting to death parents Udi and Ruth, and killing three of their children: Yoav (4), Elad (11), and four-month old baby Hadas.
RELATED:IDF: 2 Palestinians arrested in Fogel family massacre Second man accused in Itamar massacre on trial
'Itamar massacre' killer, Hakim Awad, convicted
Hakim, 18,
received his sentence in September, when the same military court sentenced him to five life sentences and five years.
The defendants, who are from the same clan, confessed to stabbing and
shooting the two young brothers, their parents, and the three-month-old baby
in the attack after they broke into the Itamar settlement adjacent to their village.
“I don’t regret what I did, and would do it again,” Amjad Awad told
reporters in May. “I’m proud of what I did and I’ll accept any
punishment I get, even death, because I did it all for Palestine,” he
added.
The prosecution considered requesting the death penalty for the muderers, the Almagor Terror Victims Association said in a statement Monday.
The Association said they had learned from sources that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak intervened, and "sweetened the punishment of the vile murderers."
"Now it's only a matter of time before they are released and in which kidnapping," the association said, referring to the Gilad Schalit prisoner swap.