Gaza terrorist Aqra Nahad was sentenced to three life sentences in prison on Thursday for the murder of three IDF soldiers. Nahad placed a bomb that exploded under a tank, killing Moshe Peled, 20, Asher Zaguri, 21, and Ron Lavie, 20, as they patrolled in Gaza.
In 2001, Nahad worked in the Palestinian Authority security apparatus in Gaza along with Ibrahim Zumlot and Ashraf Daban. Ibrahim invited his two coworkers to join the Popular Resistance Committees terrorist group, and both agreed to do so, while remaining PA officers.
In early 2002, after proving his loyalty to the PRC by dispersing propaganda, Nahad was selected to take part in a two-pronged attack on Israeli soldiers and civilians. He and his fellow terrorists prepared two bombs, one 25 kilograms and the other 100 kilograms. The smaller bomb was placed along a Gaza road used by Israeli civilians, while the large bomb was placed nearby, to be used against the IDF soldiers who were expected to respond to the detonation of the smaller bomb.
The group attempted to carry out an attack on February 13, 2002, but their bombs failed to detonate. They tried again the next day, and murdered Zaguri, Peled and Lavie. A fourth soldier was badly wounded in the attack.
In its verdict, the court noted that Nahad had planned the attack in advance, and had murdered the soldiers in cold blood and not in battle.
Nahad was arrested in 2007 and admitted to his role in the 2002 attack and other terrorist activities. The terrorist, who was detained after being injured in clashes between Fatah and Hamas in Gaza, said the senior PRC members who ordered the 2002 bomb attack were killed in 2006.