Suspect in Yemanu Zelka murder admits to beating victim as he lay on the ground — report

By Charlie Summers

You will receive email alerts from this author. Manage alert preferences on your profile page

You will no longer receive email alerts from this author. Manage alert preferences on your profile page

4 May 2026, 9:59 pm

Edit

People gather outside a Pizza Hut branch in Petah Tikva, lighting candles and placing flowers in memory of employee Yemanu Binyamin Zelka, who was stabbed and later died of his wounds on the eve of Independence Day, April 27, 2026. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

One of the minors suspected in the killing of Yemanu Zelka reportedly admitted during a police interrogation to beating the 21-year-old as he was “just trying to defend himself,” Channel 12 reports.

In a transcript from the interrogation published by the outlet, a police interrogator asks the suspect what he is seen doing in surveillance footage documenting the fatal stabbing, which took place the night of Independence Day in Petah Tikva.

“You are beating him and he is already laid out on the ground. What is he doing at this moment?” the interrogator asks.

“He was just trying to defend himself,” the suspect responds.

Continuing the line of questioning, the interrogator asks: “I don’t get it. Why are you continuing to hit him when he is already completely helpless, on the floor and unable to hurt anybody?”

“What should I do? Should I punch him and stop midway through? Everyone is punching, what, should I stop?” the youth retorts.

“Until when did you plan to beat him? Until he died? You understand that’s what happened. You were hitting him while he was laying in a pool of blood,” the interrogator responds.

At this point, the suspect stops responding and asks to be released.

He is one of 19 adolescents suspected of participating in the killing of Zelka, a Pizza Hut employee, after he told the group not to spray party foam in the restaurant.

After waiting outside for the young man to finish his late-night shift, the youths reportedly ambushed and beat him, and within seconds, one assailant took out a knife and stabbed him, with many others in the group continuing to beat him even after he collapsed to the ground. Zelka died of his wounds a day later.