Terrorist behind murder of Israeli teen in 2019 sentenced to life in prison

An Israeli military court sentences a Palestinian man to life in prison for his role in the killing of an Israeli teenager in 2019.

Mahmoud Atouna was also ordered to pay NIS 500,000 ($145,000) to the family of Dvir Sorek.

Sorek, 18, was stabbed to death near the West Bank settlement of Migdal Oz in August 2019. He was a yeshiva student enrolled in a program known as hesder that combines Torah study with military service. He was not in the military at the time of his murder.

Atouna is accused of being part of a five-man Hamas cell that grabbed Sorek as he got off a bus and killed him, leaving his body at the side of the road.

In November, the court accepted the prosecution’s position that Atouna was guilty of the attack, although he was not present at the time of the stabbing.

He was convicted at the time of intentionally causing the death of Sorek. The charge is equivalent to murder in the West Bank military court.

While not present at the scene during the stabbing, Atouna was accused by the IDF of having a “central role in the decision to carry out the attack” and recruiting one of the perpetrators.