Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

Israel Destroys Home of Alleged Palestinian Killer

Israel demolished the home of a Palestinian indicted in the Passover eve murder of a senior police officer.

The home of Ziad Awad located in the West Bank village of Idhna near Hebron was demolished by Israeli troops early Wednesday morning. Israel’s Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that the house could be razed, despite petitions by Israeli human rights organizations.

Awad has been charged in the April 14 murder of Police Chief Superintendent Baruch Mizrachi. Awad allegedly fired at civilian vehicles traveling near Hebron, killing Mizrachi, critically injuring his wife and wounding a child traveling in a second car. The shooter fled the scene.

The apartment at the top of the building, where Awad resided, was demolished, but two other apartments and storage areas owned by Awad’s brother were to be left intact.

Awad and his son, Izz Eddin Hassan Ziad Awad, 18, were arrested last month. The teen admitted under questioning that his father had shared with him his intentions to execute a terror attack against Israelis on Passover.

Awad, who was released in the 2011 Shalit prisoner exchange, is a Hamas operative who has been jailed previously for the murder of Palestinians who were believed to be cooperating with Israeli security forces. Awad told his son, according to the IDF, that “according to the Islamic religion, those who kill Jews go to heaven.” The son led police to the weapon used in the attack.

The Supreme Court justices said in their decision that despite pleas that the home not be destroyed because it would harm other innocent family members, the family shared the guilt because it was aware of Ziad Awad’s plans and collaborated with him.

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.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

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.