Yosef Haim Ben-David, the central suspect in the 2014 murder of Mohammed Abu Khdeir, has died after he was evacuated to a hospital.
The 16-year-old Arab teenager from Shuafat in Jerusalem was kidnapped on July 2, 2014, taken to the Jerusalem Forest, and burned alive. Ben-David was identified as the leader of the three-member group that carried out the murder, together with two minors. The three said the killing was carried out in revenge for the kidnapping and murder of Israeli teenagers Eyal Yifrah, Gilad Sha'ar and Naftali Frenkel, whose bodies had been found near Hevron the previous day
The Jerusalem District Court had sentenced Ben-David to life in prison plus 20 years for Abu Khdeir's murder.
The ruling also ordered Ben-David to pay 20,000 NIS in compensation to the family of a victim who was abducted the night before the murder, and approximately 150,000 to the Abu Khdeir family.
During the hearing, Judge Yaakov Tzaban asked Ben-David whether he wished to speak. Ben David replied: “I apologize for what happened."
He spoke about his previous work with ZAKA and added: “I previously worked for ZAKA and recovered the bodies of both Jews and Arabs. I always upheld the sanctity of human dignity and respect for the dead. I ask the family’s forgiveness for everything that happened.".