Jenin residents Assad Yussef Assad al-Rafa’i and Sabhi Imad Sabhi Abu Shakir were indicted on Thursday on three counts of aggravated murder and committing acts of terrorism for their roles in the deadly May 5 terror attack in Elad.
The prosecution requested an extension of their remand until the conclusion of legal proceedings against them.
The two were in Ramallah the evening before the attack, dining at a restaurant and preparing their wills, as well as performing purification rituals ahead of the act. Having failed to acquire firearms, they decided to carry out the attack with knives and axes. They were then taken by an accomplice to the security fence in the area of Rantis in Judea and Samaria, just east of Elad. They then cut a hole in the fence and entered Israel.
Hiding in a nearby grove, they waited for a driver to take them to Elad. They decided in advance that if their driver was Jewish, they would kill him upon arriving at their destination. Lod resident Oren Ben-Yiftach, a father of six, picked up the terrorists and was stabbed 21 times in the torso by al-Rafa’i when they arrived in the city. They then pushed Ben-Yiftach out of the car. Unable to start the vehicle, they decided to continue on foot.
This article first appeared in Israel Hayom.