"I wanted the State of Israel to lose money and pay for the damage caused," those were the words of a maintenance employee at a Jerusalem hospital, who, together with four other young suspects from eastern Jerusalem, police arrested during the past month for allegedly setting fire to woodlands near the hospital with a nationalist motive. Following the police investigation, the suspects are expected to be indicted by the Jerusalem District Prosecutor's Office.
The Jerusalem District Central Unit investigated two cases of a forest being set alight and the launch of fireworks near a hospital in the city. Miraculously, no one was harmed by the fire, but it caused damage.
Jerusalem District Police officers, Jerusalem Border Police, and forensic specialists arrived at the scene and began searches and preliminary investigative actions.
During the investigation, the investigation team conducted various actions to locate the suspects. As part of the investigation, the investigators revealed the identities of the five suspects, aged 15 to 20, who were involved in the act; one of whom was a maintenance employee at the hospital, and another was also employed there.
Over the past month, Jerusalem Police detectives and Border Police officers arrested the suspects, residents of the Isawiya neighborhood in eastern Jerusalem. Following their arrests, the suspects were taken for questioning.
The investigation found that the young suspects allegedly worked systematically, preparing several Molotov cocktails with a flammable substance ahead of time and, in two separate instances, used them to set fire to a field next to the hospital, which endangered commuters and the hospital.
During their interrogation, and at the request of police investigators, the suspects’ detention was extended by the court from time to time in order to complete all necessary investigative actions. At the conclusion of the investigation, once sufficient evidentiary material has been gathered, indictments are expected to be filed against them by the Jerusalem District Prosecutor’s Office.