A military court on Thursday handed life sentences to two Palestinian terrorists who killed 19-year-old Israeli yeshiva student and Israel Defense Forces soldier Dvir Sorek in Samaria in 2019.
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Qassem Asafra was sentenced to an additional 40 years behind bars, and his cousin, Nasir Asafra, to another 20.
Each of the perpetrators was also ordered to pay the Sorek family 1.5 million shekels ($476,000) in compensation. In addition, Qassem Asafra, who attacked two Israelis in Beersheba in 2011, but was not caught, was ordered to pay the victims another NIS 60,000 ($19,000) in compensation.
Sorek was found stabbed to death near his hometown of Migdal Oz in Samaria. He was a yeshiva student enrolled in a program that combines Torah study and military service. At the time of the killing, he was off-duty.
Sorek had gone to Jerusalem to buy books for his teacher as an end-of-year present and was returning home when he was targeted by the terrorists.
His body was found by the side of the road, still clutching the books he had purchased, by popular Israeli novelist and outspoken left-wing activist David Grossman.
According to the IDF, Nasir Asafra was a member of Hamas. He attacked Sorek after he got off the bus, subduing him with a stun gun and then repeatedly stabbing him in the chest.
The attackers originally fled the scene but were apprehended following a manhunt. The homes of the perpetrators were demolished in 2019.
Sorek's grandfather, Rabbi Benjamin Harling, was killed in 2000 by terrorists who shot a group of tourists near Mount Ebal.
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