IDF: 2 Palestinians arrested in Fogel family massacre

Palestinian youths from Awarta "saw children sleeping in Fogel home," snuck in and stabbed them to death; suspects affiliated with PFLP.
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Two Palestinian youths from the village of Awarta were arrested in recent days for the brutal slaying of five members of the Fogel family in their Itamar home last month, the IDF and Shin Bet said on Sunday following the lifting of a media ban on the investigation.

The suspects at first entered a home adjacent to the Fogel residence, but found that nobody was home. They stole an M-16 rifle from the home, ammunition and body armor, before walking on.

"They saw children sleeping in the home, and entered the Fogel family residence," the IDF said.

Immediately after entering the home, the youths set their knives on two young brothers sleeping in their beds, 4-year-old Elad and 11-year-old Yoav.

They then entered the parents' bedroom, where they launched a knife attack on Ehud and Ruth Fogel. The parents fought back, attempting to fend off the attackers. At that point, one of the suspects shot Ruth with a stolen M-16, at which point the two died of their wounds.

The two then left the house. One of the suspects, however, returned and stabbed to death three-month-old baby Hadas after she began crying in her crib.

According to Israel Radio, Amjad said that he was unaware that there were two other children in the house, and that if he had known, he would have stabbed them as well.

Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz on Sunday expressed his condolences once again to the Fogel family after the announcement of the arrests.

Katz told Army Radio, "To those Palestinians who said 'it can't be one of us' [who committed the crime], well it turned out to be one of you."