Prosecutors on Thursday filed a sweeping indictment against Ahmad Abd al-Rahim Abu al-Rub, 34, from the West Bank town of Kabatiya near Jenin, charging him with two counts of murder as an act of terrorism and three additional attempted murders for a combined ramming-and-stabbing attack in northern Israel late last year that left two dead and three wounded.
The indictment, submitted to the Nazareth District Court, follows a joint investigation by Israel Police and the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency).
According to the charges, Abu al-Rub carried out a pre-planned killing spree motivated by nationalist, religious and ideological motives on December 26, 2025, moving between multiple locations in the Jezreel and Beit She’an valleys.
The attack began in Beit She’an, where Abu al-Rub allegedly rammed his vehicle into Shimson Mordechai, 68, killing him at the scene. He then fled the area and continued southward, seeking additional victims, prosecutors said.
At a bus stop near Tel Yosef junction, he attempted to run over two young Israelis before exiting his vehicle armed with a knife and stabbing 18-year-old Aviv Maor to death after chasing her on foot. Maor succumbed to multiple stab wounds despite efforts by emergency responders.
The indictment further alleges that Abu al-Rub continued his assault in Afula, where he deliberately swerved his vehicle toward a pedestrian, seriously wounding a 37-year-old man, before being neutralized by an armed security officer and civilians at the scene.
Three additional victims survived the attack with injuries ranging from light to serious.
Prosecutors say Abu al-Rub had been illegally present in Israel for several days prior to the attack, after entering without a permit. During that time, he was employed at a construction site in the north, where he allegedly armed himself with a knife and a screwdriver taken from the site before launching the attack.
Abu al-Rub set out deliberately to kill Jewish civilians
Investigators determined that on the morning of the attack, Abu al-Rub stole a vehicle belonging to his employer and set out deliberately to kill Jewish civilians. The indictment states that he placed phone calls to family members shortly before the assault, which prosecutors characterize as acts of farewell prior to carrying out the attack.
In parallel to the indictment against Abu al-Rub, authorities have also filed charges against two of his brothers, who were allegedly staying in Israel illegally, as well as against his employer, a resident of Arrabe in the lower Galilee, on suspicion of unlawfully employing and transporting him.
Alongside the indictment, prosecutors requested that Abu al-Rub be remanded in custody until the conclusion of legal proceedings, citing the extreme severity of the offenses, the ideological motive, and what they described as an acute danger to public safety.
According to the remand request, the prosecution’s case includes a detailed confession, corroborating forensic evidence - including DNA linking the defendant to one of the victims - extensive security-camera footage tracing his route, and eyewitness testimony from surviving victims and bystanders.
Abu al-Rub has been in custody since December 26.
The attack sent shockwaves through communities across northern Israel at the time, prompting heightened security deployments and renewed warnings from authorities about the dangers posed by illegal entry and employment of Palestinians without permits - a theme police reiterated on Thursday, vowing continued enforcement against those who facilitate such activity.