By Meir Turgeman

Copyright ynetnews

Yisrael Biton, a United Hatzalah volunteer detained in July on suspicion of executing a Hamas terrorist during the October 7 attacks, is seeking compensation from the state, alleging wrongful arrest and defamation. The case began in December 2023, when Tel Aviv Police opened a wide-ranging probe into the death of a member of the terrorist group’s elite Nukhba unit during the October 7 attacks. Biton was among several suspects believed to have been involved. In January, State Attorney Amit Aisman announced that the case against Biton had been closed for lack of guilt. From the start, Biton claimed that he had gone to the Gaza border area that day in order to save lives and assist against terrorists, carrying a licensed personal firearm. Biton’s lawyers, Tal Gabay and Yehuda Fried, sent a letter on his behalf to the Tel Aviv District Prosecutor’s Office and the police, asking the state to pay NIS 500,000. They claim he was arrested and questioned on the murder charge for no legal basis. In the letter sent about ten days ago, they cited a series of serious failures by the authorities in the handling of the case. Biton (35), a law‑abiding citizen with no criminal record, was arrested in July 2024 on suspicion of murder and conspiracy. He was released at the first detention hearing. According to his attorneys, at both the magistrate’s court and a subsequent appeal to the Tel Aviv District Court, judges found there was no reasonable evidentiary basis against him. In their letter, the attorneys further mentioned that in one detention hearing, Judge Avital Amsalem Gilboa sharply criticized how the investigation was conducted. The court further determined that the appeal was filed incorrectly and incompletely. “In short, this was a clear case of professional negligence, to say the least, which caused our client significant damage, financial and nonfinancial,” the lawyers wrote. “This scandalous decision to arrest him on suspicion of murdering a ‘Nukhba’ terrorist on October 7, nothing less, which made waves throughout the country, was made with no legal basis and indeed he was released, unusually and perhaps even precedently, at the very first detention hearing, with strong criticism from the court, raising serious questions. It is no accident the case was later closed for lack of guilt, a fact speaks for itself.” “Instead of our client being hailed as a symbol of bravery and Israeli spirit”, the attorneys added, “and as one who saved the lives of dozens of Jews on October 7, 2023, being a volunteer with United Hatzalah, and took it upon himself in the early morning to go to the Gaza border area and stayed there for long days in appalling conditions – his name was ingrained in the collective awareness as a murderer. This is truly incomprehensible.” Despite the court determinations, the attorneys allege that the police and prosecution insisted on pursuing the case, severely damaging Biton’s reputation. “His name and photo were published to the public as if he were a murder suspect, when in fact he was a volunteer who went on his own initiative to the Gaza border on October 7, 2023, and helped save dozens of Israelis,” they wrote. In January 2025 the case was closed for lack of guilt. But they assert that the harm had already been done: “My client was humiliated in front of all, handcuffed as a criminal, when in fact he was a national hero.” The letter demands that the state pay the compensation fee within 14 days, or legal steps will be taken. The lawyers emphasize that if the prosecution and police fail to respond, they will take the matter to court. Fried and Gabay told Ynet: “You cannot ignore the terrible injustice done to an ordinary person who acted selflessly to save lives. “It must be clear that a false arrest of a hero of Israel, one who saved dozens of citizens and was falsely accused of murdering a ‘Nukhba’ terrorist on October 7, cannot end with ‘saying sorry’ and the return of his personal weapon that was taken when he was arrested. “The state smeared our client with a murder he did not commit, and it will be forced to pay dearly, especially after the court harshly criticized its conduct and released him from custody in a precedent-setting first hearing, and later, as is known, closed the case for lack of guilt.” In its January announcement of closing the case, it was reported that State Attorney Amit Isman had decided to dismiss the investigation against the five suspects in the alleged killing of a bound terrorist at the start of the war, citing a lack of guilt. The investigation, launched in November 2023, had focused on Roi Yifrach (the main suspect), Saar Ofir, Yisrael Biton, Akiva Kaufman and Israel Peretz, after Ofir told investigators that Yifrach had shown him a video of a bound terrorist being stabbed to death. Despite certain pieces of evidence, including blood found in Yifrach’s vehicle, a video showing him striking a terrorist, and WhatsApp messages in which both Yifrach and Ofir appeared to admit involvement, the announcement said the investigation revealed significant contradictions. A forensic report ruled out all versions of the killing described in those messages, and testimony from other individuals involved supported the claim that the terrorist had been handed over alive to security forces. Additionally, investigators found that Ofir had a history of making false boasts about his ties to security agencies. “Due to the chaos that prevailed in the early days of the war and the difficulty in reconstructing the full sequence of events, and given the low evidentiary value of the confessions and the high likelihood that they were mere boasts, the state attorney, contrary to the position of others who believed the case should be closed for lack of evidence, decided to close it for lack of guilt for all suspects involved,” the statement said.