JNS
According to other suspects in the case, Roy Yifrah falsely implicated them in the alleged murder.
Tel Aviv District prosecutors reached a plea agreement with Roy Yifrah, accused of looting weapons and ammunition from the south in the aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre.
In a separate legal case that was made public in July, Yifrah and two other Israelis are suspected of murdering a member of Hamas's elite Nukhba Force that led the Oct. 7 invasion of the northwestern Negev.
As part of Sunday's plea deal, the Tel Aviv District Attorney dropped two of three counts against Yifrah in the looting case, and he pleaded guilty to a single count of illegal weapons possession. Yifrah is expected to be sentenced to a maximum of 18 months imprisonment, the Kan News broadcaster reported on Sunday.
The charges of impersonating an Israel Defense Forces soldier and arms theft were dropped against the background of the Oct. 7 massacre and the assistance Yifrah provided to security forces on the ground that day.
Authorities are expected to close the murder case against Yifrah and co-defendants Sa'ar Ofir and Yisrael Biton soon due to a lack of evidence and the unique circumstances of that day, Kan News reported.
Ofir, who has been released pending the investigation, has claimed false testimony by Yifrah about the Oct. 7 events led to the murder probe.
"I was released, and all the evidence showed that I was not involved in any crime but that I fought to save lives," Ofir told Ynet on Sunday. "The desperate attempt by Yifrah and his lawyer to twist facts about weapons he stole and put the blame on me and my friends is a cruel joke."
Ofir's mother added, "This man, who is known as a pathological liar, made up false accusations against Sa'ar that he is still dealing with, despite not having done anything wrong. The Nukhba murder case that was opened against my son is solely based on the false testimony of Roy Yifrah and while no other evidence exists, the case remains open."
Yifrah, Ofir and Biton met up after they traveled to southern Israel to fight invading Hamas terrorists on the morning of Oct. 7. Police have claimed the three men subsequently detained a Nukhba Force terrorist, questioned him and executed him.
The body of the armed Palestinian terrorist was discovered in Israel's Sha'ar HaNegev region, near the border with northeastern Gaza.
Defense lawyers have said the suspects deny all charges, stressing that their clients risked their lives to save civilians and are being prosecuted for killing a terrorist operative who took part in the Hamas massacre.
Some 6,000 terrorists from Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Fatah, and unaffiliated "civilians," infiltrated the Jewish state on Oct. 7. The security forces killed approximately a thousand of the terrorists and captured many others.
