2011 Itamar Attack

Itamar is an Israeli community near Nablus in Judea and Samaria. On Friday night, March 11, 2011, attackers crossed its perimeter fence and entered the Fogel home while members of the family were asleep.[2] Later investigative reporting described the perpetrators as affiliated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), but said they appeared to have acted on their own initiative rather than under organizational orders.[4][5]

The family had previously lived in Gush Katif, moved to Ariel following Israel’s disengagement from the Gaza Strip, and had recently relocated to Itamar, where they built a home.[10] Udi and Ruth Fogel had six children. Tamar, Roi, and Yishai survived: Tamar had been away from the house, while the two younger boys were in a side room that the attackers did not search.[10][2]

Initial reporting placed the start of the attack at about 10 p.m. on March 11. One or two attackers climbed over the community’s security fence and entered the family home. The electronic system registered contact with the fence but did not signal a breach, and the report said it was unclear why the local alert squad did not respond.[2]

The five victims were Udi Fogel, 36; Ruth Fogel, 35; Yoav, 11; Elad, four; and Hadas, three months old.[3][1] Udi was also identified in some accounts by his formal name, Ehud. The three surviving children were Tamar, 12; Roi, eight; and Yishai, about two.[3]

Tamar returned at about 12:30 a.m., discovered the attack, and took her younger brothers to neighbors, who called for help. Roi and Yishai had been in a side room and had not been found by the attackers.[2] A separate account likewise says Tamar had been visiting a neighbor when the attack occurred.[11]

Neighbor Rabbi Yaakov Cohen recounted finding the two-year-old beside his parents, shaking them and trying to wake them while crying. The children’s grandfather, Haim Fogel, recalled receiving the news at about 3 a.m. and being taken to the family home.[10] Social workers were authorized to assist the surviving children and other residents despite an ongoing labor dispute among social workers.[12]

The later investigation produced a more detailed reconstruction. According to Ynetnews, the attackers entered Itamar masked and armed with knives, broke into an unoccupied house, and stole an M-16 rifle, ammunition, and a protective vest before proceeding to the Fogel home.[4] Ynet reported that they first killed Yoav and Elad, then attacked Udi and Ruth, who resisted, causing the attackers to use the stolen firearm. After going outside and seeing a patrol vehicle, they returned to search for another weapon; Amjad then heard Hadas crying and killed her, reportedly fearing the sound would expose them.[13] The attackers did not find the two boys in the side room.[2]

Israeli security forces began an extensive search following the killings. An early report said an al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades faction had claimed responsibility, but explicitly described that claim as unverified. It did not establish that the faction had directed the attack.[14]

The investigation was conducted by the Israel Security Agency, the Israel Defense Forces, and the Israel Police. A contemporaneous Ynetnews report said IDF forces arrested Amjad Awad on April 5 and Hakim Awad on April 10, 2011, and that both confessed and reconstructed the attack.[4] An ICT report instead summarized the cousins as having been arrested on April 17 after confessing.[15]

Investigators said the pair had attempted to obtain a gun from a local PFLP terrorist before the attack, but proceeded with knives and weapons stolen after entering Itamar. The Shin Bet described them as PFLP-affiliated but said they appeared to have acted on their own rather than under organizational orders, giving the crime characteristics associated with a lone-terrorist attack despite the presence of two perpetrators.[4]

After the killings, the attackers reportedly went to Hakim’s uncle, who helped conceal weapons and bloodstained clothing. The stolen weapons were later recovered after being transferred to a Ramallah resident.[4] Five relatives and acquaintances were also arrested on suspicion of helping conceal evidence.[13] The ICT later summarized investigators’ conclusion as being that the cousins planned the attack alone and were not financed by a terrorist organization, while noting family links to the PFLP.[5]

Hakim and Amjad Awad were charged with five counts of murder in the Judea and Samaria Sector Military Court on June 5, 2011. The ICT reported that both had confessed and quoted Amjad before the hearing as saying, “I don’t regret what I did, even if it means I’m sentenced to death.”[16]

Hakim was found guilty in October 2011. Amjad was convicted on November 28 of murdering the five family members and was also found guilty of weapons-trafficking and conspiracy counts.[5]

On September 13, the court sentenced Hakim to five consecutive life terms plus five years, described as a total of 130 years in prison.[17][7] In January 2012, Amjad was sentenced to five life terms plus seven years.[6]

Ynet reported that Hakim attributed his actions to the occupation and expressed no regret. The court did not consider the death penalty because he had been under 18 at the time of the crime.[7] Amjad’s statement before his hearing likewise expressed no remorse.[16]

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the murders and demanded that the Palestinian Authority assist in finding those responsible.[12] Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad also condemned the terrorist attack, stating that he opposed violence and terrorism regardless of the identities of the victims or perpetrators.[14] The same report quoted a Hamas spokesperson expressing support for what he termed resistance against settlers; the statement is presented as the spokesperson’s position, not as evidence that Hamas directed the attack.[14]

A 2015 Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs article quoted the UN Secretary-General’s spokesperson condemning the “shocking murder of an Israeli family.” The author argued that the statement was brief and lacked an expression of condolence; that assessment was the author’s interpretation of the UN response.[18]

Israeli forces launched an extensive operation and searched Awarta. In 2012, outgoing Samaria Brigade commander Nimrod Aloni called the attack his personal failure, saying, “I failed at Itamar, and in my failure the Fogel family was brutally murdered.”[19]

The State Department’s 2011 human-rights report recorded retaliatory attacks against Palestinians on March 12 and 13 in the governorates of Nablus, Salfit, Qalqilya, Hebron, and Ramallah. It reported stone-throwing at Palestinian vehicles in 16 locations, reports of Palestinians being kidnapped and beaten before release, and attacks on Palestinian Authority emergency medical responders.[17]

A Washington Institute analysis said that Israel subsequently authorized 500 additional housing units in settlement blocs near the pre-1967 boundary rather than authorizing construction in Itamar. This was the analyst’s characterization of the government’s response and its policy significance.[20]

The Fogel home became a destination for visitors after the attack. A 2013 Ynet report said more than 30,000 people had visited the site during the two years following the killings, where visitors held memorial ceremonies, prayed, and left letters and remembrance notes.[8]

In 2018, Tamar Fogel and her surviving brothers, together with 19 other relatives, filed a civil suit seeking 400 million shekels from the two attackers, the Palestine Liberation Organization, the Palestinian Authority, the PFLP, and five Palestinians accused of assisting the attackers.[9][21] The suit was filed in Jerusalem District Court shortly before the limitation period expired. Its claims that Palestinian organizations encouraged or incited the attack and that the Palestinian Authority rewarded imprisoned terrorists were plaintiffs’ allegations, not judicial findings established by the reports.[9][21]

The State Department described Itamar as a settlement near Nablus in the West Bank.[17] A Jewish Political Studies Review commentary discussed the victims’ characterization as “settlers” in the “occupied territories” and argued that this status affected public reactions to their murders. That argument was the commentary’s political and media analysis rather than a finding from the criminal case.[22]

A separate 2012 commentary characterized the killings as a terrorist attack and used them in a broader argument about Palestinian incitement.[23] Its explanation of the political environment was an authorial interpretation. The criminal case itself established that five members of the family were murdered and that Hakim and Amjad Awad were convicted for the crime.[1][5]

Contemporary reports generally identify Elad as four and Hadas as three months old.[3][1] The Investigative Project on Terrorism instead gave Elad’s age as three.[11] Other reports described Hadas as two or four months old, apparently reflecting reporting or rounding discrepancies.[7][23]

Sources also differ on the perpetrators’ ages. The State Department identified Hakim as 17 and Amjad as 19, while the ICT’s March–May report gave their ages as 17 and 18.[17][15] Ynet described them as 18 and 19.[13] The ICT’s November report also contained an apparent date error, placing the attack in 2010 rather than the consistently supported year 2011.[5]

Relatives of the suspects and Awarta’s mayor disputed the Israeli account and alleged that the confessions had been obtained under torture; the reporting did not establish that torture occurred.[24] Israeli investigative sources, meanwhile, described the cousins as PFLP-affiliated but acting on their own initiative, while the early organizational claim of responsibility remained unverified.[4][14]

The murders remained a subject of sustained public attention. The commander’s public description of the attack as a failure, the tens of thousands of reported visits to the family home, and the later civil suit represented different forms of its continuing impact.[19][8][9] The case also remained part of discussions about perimeter security and the response of Itamar’s local alert system.[2]

The attack’s public significance is closely tied to the circumstances of the victims: five members of a family were killed in their home, including three children, while three siblings survived.[3][2] The investigation and court proceedings resulted in the convictions and lengthy imprisonment of Hakim and Amjad Awad, while allegations concerning coercion and questions of organizational direction remained matters requiring attribution rather than established explanations of the crime.[4][5]