Six Years After IDF Staff Sgt. Amit Ben Yigal’s Killing, Military Court Convicts Assailant of Intentionally Causing Death

Six years after the death of a fighter from the IDF’s Golani Reconnaissance Unit, Staff Sgt. Amit Ben Yigal, hy"d, the military court in "Shomron" today (Monday) convicted Nazmi Mahmoud Younis Abu Bakr, a resident of the village of Ya’bad, of the offense of intentionally causing death.

The deadly incident occurred on the night between May 11 and 12, 2020, during an operational mission by the Golani Reconnaissance Unit in the village of Ya’bad in northern Samaria. According to the verdict, Abu Bakr, now 55, heard IDF forces operating in the village, went up to the roof of the building where his family lived, took a half concrete block weighing about 11 kilograms, and hurled it from a height of roughly 13 meters toward the force operating below. Ben Yigal was struck directly in the head. The impact caused multiple skull fractures, severe bleeding, and immediate loss of consciousness. He was evacuated for medical treatment, but was later pronounced dead.

The judges ruled unequivocally that "It was proven before us that the stone the defendant threw is the one that struck the deceased," adding: "The defendant’s conduct is what led to the fatal result—the deceased’s death."

In the courtroom, where the 126-page verdict was read under Border Police security, the judges rejected the defense’s claims about how the testimonies were collected. They said, "The defendant gave his accounts of his own free will and even denied parts of what he had said despite everything being recorded on camera." They further ruled that "the defendant’s testimony in court left a negative, evasive impression," and therefore they preferred his earlier accounts given in interrogations by the Shin Bet and the police.

The verdict also rejected the claim that the defendant’s family members were arrested as a pressure tactic. The judges noted that arresting the building’s occupants was part of a clear investigative need, and that "the defendant was not perturbed by the arrest of his family members." The head of the investigative team, nicknamed "Bruno," also testified that the family’s assertions on this issue were untrue.

After throwing the block, the court found, Abu Bakr fled from the roof to his home, got into bed in his children’s room, and pretended to sleep. Later, after security forces left the village, he went down to the scene, noticed the pool of blood and the fragments of the block, and collected the evidence in an attempt to dispose of it by throwing it into nearby vegetation—a deed for which he was also convicted of obstructing justice.