Two Palestinians admitted that they killed the settler family in the illegal settlement of Itamar last March, Israeli media sources reported on Sunday.The two were identified as Hakim Awwad, 17 and Amjad Awwad, 19 from the village of Awarta near Nablus city in the northern West Bank.
Hakim and Amjad are now in Israeli detention and Israel claims they have confessed to the charges.
One of the two recent suspects was in fact initially detained and interrogated, and was later on let go due to the lack of information.
The Maan News agency, reported that the mother of Hakim said her son was at home when the Itamar killing took place and that he went to bed around 9:30 adding that he had a surgery and is unable to walk long distance, and needs to go to the rest room every one hour.
On his part, head of the village council of Awarta, Qais Awwad, suspects that the two suspect youth may not be the real doers, hinting that they may have confessed under severe torture. According to Ma’an, Awwad said the Israeli Military has invaded the village a number of times and kidnapped dozens of Awarta residents and tortured the prisoners during interrogation.
Awwad demanded an international independent investigation into the murder.
Right wing Israeli Members of Knesset Uri Ariel and Michal bin Ari demanded the Israeli government to execute the two Palestinians.
Following the Itamar attack, the Israeli army, police and undercover forces interrogated more than 8000 Palestinians from Awarta and several nearby villages, but the investigation remained on a standstill.
