Israeli prosecutors indicted a man for murder on Thursday, after he killed one cop and injured another in a ramming attack during an operation to apprehend undocumented Palestinian workers in the northern city of Nahariya last month.
The State Prosecutor’s Office in Haifa also charged Nasim Sakh, a 44-year-old resident of the Arab town of Arabeh, for aggravated battery, interfering with the police in carrying out their duty, abandonment after injury, obstruction of justice – and illegally employing and withholding payment for workers.
Hosam Zghaiyir.
Hosam Zghaiyir, a 32-year-old police volunteer from the Druze town of Yarka, succumbed to his wounds after he was evacuated to hospital. The other officer, Amir Abu Reish, was seriously injured in the incident.
The two men arrived at the construction site in Nahariya during the holiday of Sukkot after neighbors complained about the noise. They suspected that the workers at the site did not have permits to be in Israel and began checking their documents. Sakh – who is a contractor for the construction site and the employer of the workers – arrived a short while later.
An argument broke out with Abu Reish, who informed Sakh he was being detained. Sakh then got into his car while the policemen tried to stop him. He rammed into the two men while driving in reverse with the door open and then fled in his car, according to the indictment. He was stopped at a police roadblock near Shlomi shortly after.
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Prosecutors also requested from the court for Sakh to remain in detention until the end of the legal proceedings against him, and to seize the car he used to run over the two police officers.
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