Itamar massacre (the murder of the Fogel family)

The Itamar massacre (the murder of the Fogel family) was an Arab "Palestinian" massacre (of a Jewish family in their sleep) )carried out on the night of 11 March, 2011 (6 Adar II 5771), during Shabbat, in the Jewish community of Itamar in Judea and Samaria, Israel. Two Arab Palestinian terrorists infiltrated the community and murdered five members of the Fogel family inside their home: the parents, Rabbi Ehud (Udi) Fogel and Ruth (Ruti) Fogel, and three of their children—Yoav (10), Elad (4), and Hadas (3 months old). The massacre is regarded as one of the most brutal attacks against Israeli civilians of the early 21st century and had a profound impact on Israeli society.

The attack was widely condemned in Israel and internationally and has since become a symbol of the vulnerability of Jewish civilians to terrorism and of Israeli resolve to combat incitement and violence against civilians.

Massacre of Fogel famiy in Itamar (2011)

Background

The community of Itamar is a Jewish town in northern Samaria that has repeatedly been targeted by Palestinian terrorist attacks. In the years preceding the massacre, Israeli security services warned of ongoing threats to Israeli civilian communities in the area amid sustained incitement and glorification of violence against Jews.

The murders

About a week before the attack, Hakim Awad conducted surveillance on Itamar in order to study its security arrangements. Together with Amjad Awad, he later obtained weapons for the attack, including four knives—two of them approximately 40 cm long.

The terrorists entered Itamar at around 20:30 by jumping the community fence. Although the fence triggered an alert, the on-duty security patrol mistakenly assumed it was a false alarm. Surveillance cameras did not cover the area of infiltration.

For approximately an hour and a half, the terrorists wandered through the community searching for targets. They initially broke into another home but found it empty, stealing an M16 rifle, ammunition, and a vest. They then waited outside the Fogel home, where a Shabbat gathering had just concluded.

Believing the family to be asleep, they entered through an unlocked door. Amjad stabbed Yoav (10) to death, and together they murdered Elad (4) by stabbing and strangulation. They then attacked the parents in their bedroom, killing Ehud with knife wounds to the neck and nape and murdering Ruth as she tried to resist.

After leaving, Amjad returned to the house upon hearing the cries of Hadas, the three-month-old baby, and murdered her by stabbing her in the head.

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The two men left the house, but then they heard three-month-old Hadas crying. Awoken by the attack, the baby lay in her crib in her parents’ bedroom. “They went back into the house and stabbed the baby to death.”

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Two other children—Yishai (2), sleeping in another room, and Roi (8), sleeping in the living room—were not noticed and survived.

The terrorists locked the house from the inside, escaped through a window, and fled back through the fence.

After midnight, Tamar (12), the eldest daughter, returned from a Bnei Akiva youth activity and found the door locked. Hearing her baby brother crying, she alerted a neighbor. Together they entered the home and discovered the murdered family members lying in pools of blood. The two surviving children were rescued.

The brutality of the murders—including the deliberate killing of children and a baby—shocked the Israeli public and drew comparisons to some of the most severe acts of anti-Jewish violence in modern times.

Investigation and convictions

Israeli security forces from the Israel Defense Forces and the Shin Bet launched an intensive manhunt immediately following the massacre. Military trackers traced the attackers’ route back to Awarta.

A month after the attack, the terrorists Hakim Awad and Amjad Awad, aged 18 and 19 and related by family ties, were arrested. Both confessed to the murders and reenacted the massacre. They were identified as affiliated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, though they carried out the attack independently. An Israeli military court sentenced each of them to approximately 130 years in prison.

Commemoration and Israeli response

The massacre has been formally commemorated by the IDF and Israeli state institutions as part of national remembrance of victims of terrorism. Official commemorations emphasize the innocence of the victims and the moral clarity of condemning attacks against civilians, particularly children.

In Itamar, memorial projects, educational initiatives, and new residential construction were undertaken as an expression of Jewish resilience and continuity. Community organizations have documented the massacre and its aftermath, framing continued Jewish life in the area as a response to terrorism intended to uproot it.

Legal action

Years after the attack, the surviving Fogel children filed a civil lawsuit in the Jerusalem District Court seeking approximately $115 million in damages from the Palestinian Authority and the convicted terrorists. The lawsuit argues that the Palestinian Authority bears responsibility for the attack through its policies of financially rewarding imprisoned terrorists and promoting incitement against Israelis, which the plaintiffs claim encourages violence against Jewish civilians.

Political and public impact

The massacre has continued to influence Israeli public discourse on security, incitement, and coexistence. In the broader context of terrorism affecting Israeli civilian life, members of the Knesset proposed legislation to regulate the public broadcast of the Muslim call to prayer (adhan), citing quality-of-life concerns and heightened sensitivities in areas affected by terrorism. The proposal generated political debate and reflected ongoing tensions within Israeli society following years of attacks on Jewish communities such as Itamar.

Legacy

The Itamar massacre remains a defining event in Israel’s collective memory of terrorism against civilians. It is frequently cited in discussions of Palestinian incitement, the ethics of targeting civilians, and Israel’s policies toward terrorism and its supporters. The continued commemoration of the Fogel family underscores the broader Israeli narrative of mourning, resilience, and determination to protect Jewish life.

See also

• Itamar attack (2002)
• Israeli casualties of Palestinian terrorism

References

"The Mufti.. concocted a new kind of antisemitism that combined traditional Muslim antisemitism, like the anti-Jewish verses you find in the Koran, with the Nazi antisemitism that demonised Jews... His whole ideology was antisemitic and from the very beginning he targeted Jews, not Zionists."

The difference between lies and reality is sometimes just a color on a map

W. Ormsby-Gore as he was preparing the royal commission report, "Though I knew there was ill-feeling between Jews and Arabs, I had not realized the depth and intensity of the hatred with which the Jews are held by the Arabs..."

"It is not Israel's settlement blocks but rather the Palestinian ideological blockade that constitutes the biggest barrier to peaceful arrangements . The Jew-hatred in this region must no longer be played down as a kind of local custom ..."

The only tweet (July 2014) on the Twitter account of the late American Elan Ganeles - murdered by Arab-Islamist "Palestinian" on Feb 27, 2023 hy"d: "I think you're always going to have tension in the Middle East, when there's [are] people who want to kill Jews, and the Jews don't want to be killed, and neither side is willing to compromise."