The prosecution filed an indictment on Sunday to the Central District Youth Court against a Jewish minor accused of participating in a large, violent nationalist attack earlier this month in the northern West Bank.
According to the indictment and the prosecution, the minor took part in an organized raid in the Beit Lid area near Tulkarm, in which rioters torched vehicles and buildings, vandalized property, and carried out severe assaults on Palestinian civilians.
The indictment charges the minor with multiple terror-motivated offenses, including arson for terrorist purposes, aggravated intentional injury for terrorist purposes, malicious damage to vehicles, and willful property destruction.
According to the filing, the minor and dozens of masked attackers arrived on November 11 at a logistics center adjacent to Beit Lid. They were armed with flammable materials, clubs, and stones. After exploiting an open gate to enter the facility, the group attempted to disable security cameras, smashed windows, torched trucks and private cars belonging to Palestinian workers, and caused structural damage to the center.
The Palestinian employees – about 20 at the time – barricaded themselves inside the building as the attackers attempted to force their way in. Two security cameras were burned in the fires that spread across the compound.
The indictment states that the minor and the group then moved on to two additional sites nearby, where they continued torching trucks, vehicles, and structures; damaged a water tank; and threw stones at buildings and at Palestinians present in the area.
Extremist West Bank settlers attack Palestinians
According to prosecutors, the minor personally struck a Palestinian man with a club and, along with other participants, threw stones at several civilians. One victim lost consciousness and suffered skull fractures and lacerations. Another sustained a skull fracture after blows to the head, and a third suffered head injuries from stone-throwing.
The prosecution wrote that the attackers acted “out of nationalist motives, with the intention to instill fear and cause real danger to life and property.”
An IDF brigade commander spotted the minor and two other rioters, pursued them on foot, and detained them. Soldiers handcuffed the three ahead of their transfer to the Israel Police.
During transport, additional rioters surrounded the military vehicle, threw out military equipment, and freed two of the detainees.
The minor attempted to flee as well – breaking the plastic restraints on his hands – but soldiers prevented his escape and transferred him to another vehicle. The same location was targeted two weeks earlier, when dozens of settlers carried out a coordinated raid on several sites in the Beit Lid industrial area.
During that incident, rioters assaulted Palestinians, torched buildings, vehicles, and tents, and later damaged a military vehicle and attacked soldiers who responded to the scene. The prosecution has asked the youth court to keep the minor in custody until the end of the legal proceedings, citing the severity of the alleged attacks and the ongoing risk posed.