Newsletter
Newsletter Support JNS

Israeli military DNA testing murder weapon to ID soldier’s killer

Three suspects from the same family are reportedly in custody over the murder of IDF Staff-Sgt. Amit Ben-Yigal during a raid in Judea and Samaria on May 12.

IDF Sgt. First Class Amit Ben-Yigal was killed by a Palestinian terrorist on May 12, 2020, during an arrest raid in a Palestinian village in Judea and Samaria. Credit: Courtesy.
IDF Sgt. First Class Amit Ben-Yigal was killed by a Palestinian terrorist on May 12, 2020, during an arrest raid in a Palestinian village in Judea and Samaria. Credit: Courtesy.

As part of an ongoing investigation into the May 12 killing of Israel Defense Forces Staff Sgt. Amit Ben-Yigal by Palestinian terrorists, Israeli security forces are using suspects’ DNA samples to locate the murder weapon.

Ben-Yigal, 21, died after being struck in the head with a cinder block during a raid in the Palestinian village of Ya’bad in Judea and Samaria.

Three suspects in the case are in custody, the Hebrew-language news site Kipa reported on Wednesday, but it is not yet clear which of them is responsible for throwing the rock that killed Ben-Yigal.

The suspects are all members of the same family, according to the report. Soldiers from the Golani Reconnaissance Battalion that carried out the raid returned to the scene later in the day to collect cinder blocks from the vicinity, which are now being tested for DNA.

The Berkeley project “has a record of promoting anti-Israel and antisemitic agendas,” Oleg Ivanov, of StandWithUs, told JNS. “We are deeply concerned that the same thing will happen in this training.”
The Federation told JNS exclusively that it is ending its engagement with a consultant who headed one of its communications projects after JNS reported that he advised attendees at a Federations conference to avoid using the word “Zionism.”
The U.S. president insists that American naval forces are maintaining a strict blockade until Tehran agrees to a deal or total surrender.
Mahmoud Fatair was a Palestinian Islamic Jihad Nukhba commander who infiltrated Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.