Fogel Family
Fogel FamilyA7 Staff

The prosecution does not plan on asking for a death sentence for Amjad Awad, who pleaded guilty on Tuesday to the horrific murders of five members of the Fogel family in Itamar last March.

According to a report on Israel’s Channel 10 News, the military prosecution and the defense have reached an agreement, according to which Awad will be sentenced to five life sentences in prison.

The report stated that in order to impose a death penalty, unanimous support of all the judges in the panel is required.

The prosecution previously attempted to impose a death sentence on a Palestinian Authority police officer who was involved in the 2000 lynching of two reserve soldiers in Ramallah. In that case, one of the judges objected to the death sentence and the officer was sentenced to two life sentences.

Amjad Awad, 19, who perpetrated the mass murder of the Fogels with his cousin, Hakim, is said by IDF prosecutors to have been the mastermind behind the attack.

Together the cousins broke into the Fogel home on a Friday night and brutally murdered Ehud (36), his wife Ruth (35), Yoav (11), Elad (4), and 2-month-old Hadas.

According to court documents Hakim aided Amjad him by holding down the children for slaughter, and shooting Ruth after Amjad stabbed her.

Last month, the same court sentenced Hakim, now 18, to five consecutive life sentences plus five years in prison, a total of 130 years behind bars. Hakim was 17-years old when the slayings took place. Both cousins have expressed pride and no remorse for their bloody crimes.

Earlier on Tuesday, Ruth Fogel’s brother, Elihai Ben-Yishai, issued an impassioned call for the killers to face the death penalty.

In a piece published by Yediot Aharonot, Ben-Yishai wrote, “A direct line connects the Nazi persecutor to the murderers from Awarta. Those same animals would have carried out the same acts if the family in question were from Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa or Ramle.”

“They would have entered any Jewish home and done what they did without a single pang of conscience,” he stated.