Sarona market killers charged, allegedly had planned to attack train

The two Palestinian terrorists who carried out the lethal Sarona Market shooting were “inspired” by the Islamic State, but were not formally affiliated with the organization, according to an indictment filed against the pair.

On June 8, cousins Muhammad and Khalid Muhamra opened fire in a restaurant in the heart of Tel Aviv, killing Ido Ben Ari, Ilana Naveh, Michael Feige and Mila Mishayev, and wounding over a dozen. They fled the scene but were captured by private security guards and police a short time later.

The two, along with a third man, Younis Ayash Musa Zayn, who had assisted and planned to join them, are charged with murder in a Tel Aviv District Court.

Zayn did not take part in the attack for “technical reasons,” the Shin Bet security service says, but had been involved in its conception and had purchased the guns used from a local manufacturer.

During their interrogations, the trio told investigators they had been planning the terror attack for approximately six months, the Shin Bet says. Allegedly, they originally intended to carry out the shooting on a passenger train, but later changed their minds because of the difficulty in sneaking guns past security at the stations.

The decision to attack the Max Brenner restaurant in Sarona was “random and decided on the day of the attack,” the Shin Bet says in a statement.

The three young men, all in their early 20s, are residents of the Palestinian village of Yatta, outside of Hebron.

— Judah Ari Gross