Nedal Amar, the Palestinian man who lured 20- year-old soldier Sgt.Tomer Hazan to the West Bank in mid-September, and his brother Abd al-Salam were convicted for Hazan's murder in the Samaria Military Court, the IDF announced on Thursday.
The actual conviction was handed down on Wednesday.
Nedal, 42, and his brother al-Salam, both confessed to murder and kidnapping and to facilitating murder and kidnapping, and other charges, respectively.
The IDF prosecution will seek life in prison for Nedal, who actually committed the murder, on June 25, while al-Salam's sentencing is not yet set.
Nedal had told security forces that he led Hazan, who he was friendly with and worked with at a Bat Yam restaurant, to the West Bank, where he killed him, and hoped to secure the release of another brother, Nur al-Din Amar – an incarcerated terrorist arrested in 2003 for being part of a suicide bombing attack cell – by offering to return the soldier’s body.
According to security sources, Amar lured Hazan to the West Bank by promising him the reward of an unspecified low-level criminal score, which was fictional and never actualized.
Nur al-Din had initially pressed Nedal to kidnap a soldier in 2012 in order to gain his release in a Gilad Schalit-style prisoner swap.
There is no evidence that Nedal was involved with prior criminal activity and at Thursday's hearing itself Nedal told the press that he hoped Tomer Hazan was "the last victim."
Nedal and al-Salam had Hazan handcuffed and blindfolded, at which point, Hazan, who was in the Israeli air force when he was killed, plead for his life and vowed never to return to the West Bank, stated the indictment.
At Nedal's instruction, al-Salam handed Nedal his belt, which Nedal then used to strangle Hazan to death over several minutes in which Hazan resisted.
The case has been almost constantly in the headlines because of the duplicity of Amar murdering someone who he knew and worked with.
The murder has also had a higher than usual profile because politicians across the spectrum, including Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu weighed in on the murder, which, since it coincided with Palestinian prisoner releases, was a springboard for leaders on the right to criticize the releases.