Off-duty soldier charged with murder of Druze man on Route 6 is named as Shalev Moshe Hajaj

The soldier who was charged last week with murder for the January 8 killing of a Druze man is named as Shalev Moshe Hajaj, 21.

He stands accused of killing Sharif Hadid, who was in his twenties, following an alleged road rage incident on a highway in northern Israel.

In an indictment published last week, prosecutors said the soldier now identified as Hajaj, who was off-duty at the time of the shooting, loaded his military assault rifle, then used it to beat Hadid, of Daliyat al-Karmel, in the face and smash the back windshield of the car Hadid was traveling in.

Hajaj then allegedly shot Hadid when the victim approached with a sharp object, and kept shooting after Hadid retreated.

Hebrew media outlets have previously reported that Hajaj claimed to interrogators that he shot Hadid because he felt threatened, after the victim and his brother advanced toward him “in a threatening manner.”