Palestinian who escaped prison sentenced to life for Israeli settler killing

A Palestinian man was sentenced to life imprisonment on Sunday for the killing of an Israeli settler in 2015, Israeli media reported.

Maad Hamed was responsible for a drive-by shooting near the Israeli settlement of Shvut Rachel in the occupied West Bank on 29 June 2015, when he killed a 25-year-old settler and wounded three others, The Times of Israel reported.

He was arrested by the Palestinian Authority (PA) shortly after in July of that year, and remained in their custody until April 2022 when he escaped. He was then arrested by Israeli forces in the West Bank town of Silwad.

Hamed was allegedly a member of Hamas - which controls the Israeli-besieged Gaza Strip - and was convicted late last year of the killing of the Israeli settler, as well as attempted murder and other security offenses.

The Palestinian man was also ordered to pay a total of 1,090,000 Israeli shekels, or around $290,000, to the family of the victim and the others wounded in the shooting.

Three members of the alleged Hamas cell have already been given life sentences for the attack.

Attacks against Israeli forces and settlers by Palestinians have come in retaliation to continued Israeli aggression targeting towns and villages across the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem, as well as Gaza.

Some Israelis and individuals of other nationalities have died as a result, whereas hundreds of Palestinians have been victims of Israeli attacks.

This year alone, over 160 Palestinians have been killed by Israel in the West Bank and Gaza.