Israel Police and GSS have solved the murder of the late Yigal Yehoshua in a stone-throwing attack last month in Lod and have made arrests. The authorities are doing all they can to bring the guilty parties to justice.
In recent weeks, 6 residents of Lod and 2 Palestinians living in Judea and Samaria have been arrested in a combined operation by the GSS and the Israeli Central Police.
The attack took place on the evening of May 11, during the violent events in Lod that took place in parallel with Operation Guardian of the Walls. The findings of the investigation by the police and the GSS show that the suspects decided to throw stones at the vehicles of Jews who happened to pass by in the area, with antisemitic and nationalist motives.
The suspects were aided by roadblocks set up by young Arabs in the area, which forced vehicles to slow down.
The suspects stood in various locations at the scene of the attack and upon identifying Yehoshua's vehicle as being driven by a Jew, they threw stones at him with great force and at a very close range.
Yehoshua was hit by the stones and was stopped for a short time at the scene, then continued to drive towards his home in the Ganei Aviv neighborhood of the city. He managed to get as far as the parking lot of his house, where his vehicle collided with a parked vehicle. A neighbor noticed what was happened, and found Yehoshua injured.
After being rushed to the hospital in critical condition, he was pronounced dead six days later.
Photo: Walla News
Following the incident, eight suspects were arrested for questioning:
Muhammad Hassona, 33 years old
Khaled Hassona, 51 years old
Karim Bahlul, 20 years old
Yosef Alqaedim, 21 years old
Walid Alqaedim, 25 years old
Iyad Marahla, 20 years old
All are Israeli citizens living in Lod.
Photos: H. Breaking News
In addition, Ahmad Danon, 25, a Palestinian resident of Rantis, and Kamal Dif Allah, 21, a Palestinian resident of Beit Lakia, both of whom are staying illegally in Israel, were arrested by the Gideonim Special Unit.
The investigation also revealed that after the stones were thrown and the attack on Yehoshua, some of the suspects acted in an attempt to obscure their involvement in the attack by attempting to hide from the security camera system at the scene. The findings show that some of the suspects are also connected to other serious stone-throwing incidents in the city of Lod against Jews.
Solving this serious crime and bringing those responsible to justice are the result of an intensive and thorough investigation by the GSS and the Israel Police.
Today, after the investigation was exhausted, a prosecutor's statement was filed by the State Attorney's Office against 7 of the suspects regarding the intention to file serious indictments against them for aggravated murder and a request to detain them until the end of the proceedings.