The Tel Aviv District Court on Sunday sentenced Ibrahim Shalhoub, 29, of Tulkarm, to life imprisonment for the murder of Ludmila Lipovsky hy”d, an 83-year-old woman who was stabbed to death in Herzliya in December 2024.

Shalhoub pleaded guilty and was convicted of murder under aggravated circumstances as an act of terrorism, as well as unlawful possession of a knife. The court also ordered him to pay the maximum compensation allowed by law—NIS 258,000—to Lipovsky’s family.

The attack occurred on December 27, 2024, near a commercial area adjacent to an assisted-living complex in Herzliya. Shalhoub armed himself with a knife and attacked Lipovsky at close range, stabbing her approximately 11 times. She later died of her wounds. Security personnel shot and apprehended Shalhoub at the scene.

The court noted that Shalhoub had been living lawfully inside Israel at the time of the attack, after being relocated from the West Bank due to the exposure of his past cooperation with Israeli security authorities.

Senior Judge Yaron Levy described the killing as an “exceptionally brutal” act of terror carried out against a defenseless elderly woman. The ruling said the murder gravely violated protected social values and was intended to terrorize the civilian population, emphasizing that it took place during wartime, when Israel’s home front was under sustained threat.

Beyond the killing itself, the court said, the attack conveyed a broader message that no civilian or public space is safe, amplifying its social harm.

Prosecutors pressed for a life sentence, stressing the timing and severity of the attack. Prosecutor Hadas Forer Gafni told the court that the murder occurred amid heightened national anxiety, as Israel faced attacks on multiple fronts. “A terror attack of this kind in the heart of Herzliya is all the more severe,” she said.

The judges rejected defense arguments for leniency, finding no mitigating circumstances, and underscored the need for deterrence by imposing the harshest penalty available under Israeli law.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)