Five Israelis from the Druze community of Yarka in the Galilee were indicted on Thursday for abducting three Palestinians from Jenin at gunpoint in November in retaliation for stealing the body of Tiran Fero.
Three of the suspects were identified as Ali Fathi Atallah, 20, Waal Fakhri Muhammad Atallah, 21, and Karim Yusef Salim Atallah, 23. The other two were not identified as they are minors.
In November, Palestinian gunmen stormed a hospital in Jenin and seized the body of Fero, 17, a member of Israel’s Druze community, who entered Jenin via the Gilboa crossing together with a friend to get his car repaired. He was severely injured in a car accident and hospitalized, and underwent surgery. According to the IDF, he soon died of his injuries.
In response, the five Israeli suspects went to a compound in Yarka where Palestinian workers were staying, abducted three of them at gunpoint, locked them inside the trunk of their car and drove to an isolated area, according to the Israel Police and the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet).
The suspects, armed with weapons including clubs, knives and axes, allegedly forced the Palestinians to contact their families by phone and inform them that they had been kidnapped, and then badly beat them, saying the attack was in revenge for Fero’s abduction.
They thereafter released the victims, who went to receive medical treatment.
Prosecutors on Thursday indicted the five suspects in the Haifa District Court.
Fero’s body was returned following the efforts of Israeli security forces acting in coordination with Palestinian security forces and the Palestinian Authority.
