State attorney clarifies case against civilian charged with killing terrorist on Oct. 7

The State Attorney’s Office issues a rare clarification of a police investigation into a highly unusual case involving the suspected killing of an alleged Palestinian terrorist by a citizen who apparently caught the individual alive after he participated in the Hamas invasion of Israel on October 7.

The office says it is releasing a statement due to incorrect information reported about the case, which it says brought about “severe incitement” against staff from the State Attorney’s Office and the Israel Police.

According to the State Attorney’s Office, after two suspects, dubbed “S” and “R,” were questioned about stolen firearms, a video emerged of R beating a Palestinian in his vehicle. Forensic tests determined that the Palestinian was killed, although his body has not been found.

The Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court approved search and arrest warrants against R and others because there was “a reasonable suspicion that the crime of murder had been committed.”

R was indicted for stealing weapons from a special forces police officer who was slain during the October 7 attack, and was ordered to be held in custody until the end of legal proceedings against him.

The police investigation into the allegations of murder against him continues, and the State Attorney’s Office is “guiding” the process.

According to earlier media reports, on October 7 — as thousands of Hamas-led terrorists stormed southern Israel in a shock assault — the suspects in the case made their way to the Gaza border communities to join the fighting there.

According to Walla, R was alleged to have seized a Palestinian, whom he identified as an operative in Hamas’s elite Nukhba force, interrogated him, and executed him at the end of the interrogation.

According to the Hebrew media reports, R says that he never seized or interrogated a Palestinian, and maintains that the alleged terrorist was alive when he transferred him to security forces.