Exclusive: IDF indicts alleged perpetrators of West Bank terror attacks

Indictments filed in Judea Military Court over terror incidents in early December and mid-November.

By YONAH JEREMY BOB
Scene of Gush Ezion stabbing. (photo credit: GUSH ETZION REGIONAL COUNCIL)
Scene of Gush Ezion stabbing.
(photo credit: GUSH ETZION REGIONAL COUNCIL)
The IDF West Bank prosecution on Thursday filed indictments against the suspects in the Gush Etzion junction and al-Arub terrorist attacks of early December and mid-November, The Jerusalem Post has learned.
The indictments, both filed in the Judea Military Court, have not been publicly announced.
In the Gush Etzion attack, the indictment stated, Amal Ahmad, 20, a Palestinian woman from the nearby village of Beit Fajar with no prior criminal record, stabbed Yehoshua Lorch, 31, in early December.
Lorch stood at a hitchhiking post when he recognized a driver who had stopped to offer people a ride. Ahmad, who had hidden a kitchen knife under her clothing, the indictment noted, came at Lorch from behind and stabbed him.
The indictment stated that Hayim Cohen, nearby, pushed Ahmad to the ground, who dropped her knife in the process.
Security forces saw the incident, opened fire, and seriously wounded Ahmad, according to the indictment.
Shortly after the attack, IDF troops came to Ahmad’s family home in the village and questioned several relatives, leading to 100 people gathering outside the house, a disturbance, during which one soldier was lightly hurt after someone threw a tire at him.
The IDF West Bank prosecution also filed an indictment against known Hamas operative Hamam Masalama, 23, from Beit Ava near Hebron, for running over IDF soldiers Itai Sadan, Moshe Aharoni and Eliyahu Monia near the al-Arub camp in early November.
All three were injured and Masalama was charged with nine counts, including three counts of attempted murder and counts related to other terrorist plans.
The view of the incident has shifted from viewing it as a terrorist incident, to a car accident, and finally back to concluding it was a terrorist attack.
Masalama was accompanied by Isa Atila and had decided to carry out a terrorist attack as revenge for Israeli strikes in Gaza during the summer war, said the indictment.
The indictment stated that the two drove past the same Gush Etzion junction bus stop and had numerous chances to run over civilians, but Masalama told Atila he specifically wanted to attack IDF soldiers, not civilians.