Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Palestinian Workers Arrested For Rape Of 7-Year-Old Jewish Girl From West Bank

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Two Palestinian men were arrested on suspicion of raping a 7-year-old girl from a West Bank settlement.

The men, who are residents of the Palestinian village of Qibya, work in the settlement where the girl lives, the Kan public broadcaster first reported Tuesday night.

The arrests come more than a month after a Palestinian man who had been indicted in the case was released by the Israel Defense Forces military advocate general due to a lack of evidence. Police had held Mahmoud Katusa, who worked at the girl’s elementary school, for 50 days.

It is not known how the two men are connected to the alleged rape or what evidence police have, according to Kan.

The girl was not examined by a doctor until at least five days after the alleged incident, and the underwear she wore on the day of the alleged attack was not sent for forensic testing, according to reports. Police also had not been able to locate two other men that the girl said held her down during the assault.

Police reopened the investigation after releasing Katusa on June 25.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.