3 Israelis accused of murdering neutralized Hamas terrorist on October 7
Speaking to i24NEWS, one of the accused says police treated them as if they were 'no better than terrorists'
Three Israelis are suspected of killing a neutralized Nukhba terrorist on October 7, according to details a court allowed to be published last week after a gag order into the case.
Aged 22, 30, and 35, police opened an investigation into the three for allegedly beating the member of Hamas's elite force to death after he had already been neutralized.
The removal of the gag order comes after i24NEWS petitioned the courts to publish the information, which had been released in the media despite the order.
According to details cleared for publication, on October 7 the three traveled to the battle zones around Gaza to try assisting Israeli forces in the field. Two of them fought terrorists face to face. At one point, policemen at the site handed them a terrorist who was handcuffed and no longer posed a danger, and asked them to transfer him to where Shin Bet security agency interrogations were conducted.
Two of the suspects claim that they did not find the Shin Bet in the area, so they handed him over to the police. Police investigators reject this version of events, and claim the terrorist was never transferred for inquiry. They claim that the three of them interrogated him in the field, and are suspected of killing him.
One of the suspects, Saar Ophir, is a discharged soldier and the second, Yisrael Biton, is a medic in United Hatzalah. The third suspect, Roi Yifrach, has been charged in the past with impersonating a soldier and stealing weapons.
Opir spoke to i24NEWS’ Hebrew channel with his mother over the weekend, saying “the police said we're no better than terrorists.”
“We're talking about Israeli heroes, who saved lives while half the country was sleeping - and the other half, the security forces, we had no idea where they were,” his mother added. “My son risked his life for the people of Israel and found himself accused of a ridiculous and irrelevant offense.”
“I told the officers - I went to rescue other officers who were murdered, I saved them, how do you accuse me of such a thing? Where were you on October 7?” asked Ophir.
“We intend to be fully acquitted on this matter, and then we will consider our next steps,” he concluded.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir blasted State Prosecutor Amit Eisman for the case.
“The state attorney who started investigating me on suspicion of ‘incitement’ against the residents of Gaza,” he said, “is also the one who ordered the spiraling investigation against three heroic soldiers who on October 7th went to fight in the periphery, and are now suspected by Eismann of ‘murdering’ a Nukhba terrorist. The state attorney should remember that he is the advocate of the State of Israel, and not of its enemies.”
Yisrael Beiteinu leader Avigdor Liberman called the case a "theater of the absurd."