West Bank cousins handed life in prison for deadly 2024 terror spree in Ra’anana

The Lod District Court has sentenced two perpetrators of a 2024 car-ramming and stabbing attack, which killed an elderly woman, to life imprisonment plus 60 additional years.

Cousins Ahmed Zidat, 25, and Mahmoud Zidat, 44, were convicted of repeatedly ramming vehicles into pedestrians across several locations throughout Ra’anana on January 15, 2024. The terror attack killed 79-year-old Edna Bluestein and injured at least 17 others.

The perpetrators, from the southern West Bank town of Bani Naim, had been working in the Ra’anana industrial zone without proper documentation. The two pleaded guilty and were convicted in July 2024 on terror charges including aggravated murder, attempted murder, causing injury and other offenses.

According to an indictment filed by prosecutors in February 2024, both identified with the Hamas terror group and had planned other terror attacks in the past. They carried out their rampage using three cars in separate parts of the city.

Ahmed rammed into one pedestrian at high speed, exited his wrecked vehicle, then hijacked another car to run into two other pedestrians. He again got out of the car and began stabbing one of his victims.

Mahmoud, meanwhile, spotted a crowded bus stop and rammed his car into those waiting there, running over 18 people, including Bluestein.