JERUSALEM, Aug 3 (Reuters) - An Israeli military court found a Palestinian man guilty of murdering five Israeli family members in the occupied West Bank in March, an army spokeswoman said on Wednesday.
Hakim Awad, 18, was convicted on Tuesday after he admitted that he and his brother, who is also on trial for murder, had killed a Jewish couple and three of their children, one a three-month-old baby, in their home in the settlement of Itamar.
The killings were one of the worst attacks on Jews in the West Bank in years and shocked Israelis. They were also condemned by the Palestinian Authority that exercises limited self-rule in the area.
The two men broke into the family's home at night, stabbed the children and father and then shot the mother who tried to fight back, the indictment against them said.
Nimrod Aloni, a senior military officer who led the search for the attackers, told reporters that the killings were not premeditated but that the brothers had egged each other on after initially planning to steal a weapon in the settlement.
No date has yet been set for Awad's sentencing, the military spokeswoman said. His 19-year-old brother, Amjad, has a hearing in his case on Aug. 16.
Violence in the West Bank has dropped significantly since its peak during a Palestinian uprising a decade ago.
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