A Hamas terrorist, Maad Hamed, who escaped Palestinian Authority custody in April of last year and was captured by Israel, was sentenced by a Military Court to two life sentences for the murder of Malachi Rosenfeld in a shooting attack that happened in June 2015. He was held in custody by the Palestinian Authority from July 2015 but escaped under suspicious circumstances. He was subsequently apprehended by Israeli forces.
The military court sentenced Maad to two life sentences and also determined that he will pay compensation to the Malachi family and other victims of the attack in a total amount of one million NIS. Hamed was imprisoned by the Palestinian security forces since the attack that took place near the Israeli settlement of Kida. After the Shin Bet received information indicating that Maad had escaped from his incarceration in the PA, they quickly located him and brought him back into Israeli custody.
Hamed established the Hamas terrorist cell with the goal of carrying out additional attacks against Israelis. In June of 2015, Hamed shot at four Israelis sitting in a vehicle, killing Malachi Rosenfeld and injuring other passengers. He’ll spend the rest of his life in prison.
— Israel War Room (@IsraelWarRoom) June 5, 2023
About a month after the attack, declassified military information was published, indicating that a joint operation by the Shin Bet, the IDF, and the Israel Police resulted in the capture of a Hamas military cell, whose members, including Hamed, were complicit in carrying out the shooting attack. In their investigation, the members of the cell admitted to carrying out the attacks and trying to carry out another attack in early June. Their investigation also revealed that the mastermind of the attacks was Ahmed Najjar, a Hamas operative, who was imprisoned for involvement in shooting attacks in which Israelis were killed. Najjar was released from prison and deported to the Gaza Strip as part of the "Gilad Shalit Deal". After his deportation, Najjar moved to Jordan, and from there he worked systematically to coordinate terrorist attacks in the area.
It is suspected that the reason for Hamed’s escape was to promote a terrorist attack against Israeli targets in the immediate time frame. It should be noted that the main reason why the Palestinian Authority held such a prisoner was not necessarily because of his actions, but his affiliation with Hamas which rivals the current PA leadership.
A #military court on Thurs convicted terrorist Ma'ad Hamed of the 2015 murder of Malachi Rosenfeld in a shooting attack.
— Ora Levitt 🇮🇱 חיילת צה"ל 🇮🇱 עם ישראל חי (@IDFsoldiergirl) December 1, 2022
Hamed was convicted on the basis of his confession of intentionally causing death, which is equivalent to murder in #Military court. #Palestinians #Israel
Eliezer Rosenfeld, Malachi's father, said that "it won't bring back our dear and beloved Malachi, but whoever takes a life should spend the rest of his life in prison."
The attack took place on Alon Road, during which a terrorist squad, under the command of Maad, opened fire on an Israeli vehicle. Rosenfeld was seriously injured by the shooting and died of his injuries in the hospital. He was 27 years old when he died.
Terrorist who murdered Malachi Rosenfeld receives two life sentences: Rosenfeld's family and the other victims are to receive NIS 1,090,000 in compensation from Hamad by court order. JPost https://t.co/t9FzgHMqEM pic.twitter.com/nsGr8cs109
— Jewish Community (@JComm_NewsFeeds) June 5, 2023
Rosenfeld's brother, an Air Force pilot, was also killed 13 years before the attack that took his brother's life.
All of the other members of the squad have already been tried several years ago; two of them were sentenced to life imprisonment and another was sentenced to life imprisonment and 30 years.
