Yosef Haim Ben-David, who led the kidnapping and murder of Palestinian teenager Muhammad Abu Khdeir in 2014, died on Thursday after being hospitalized while serving a life sentence.

The Israel Prison Service (IPS) merely announced that “a 42-year-old prisoner in Hasharon Prison, [previously] a resident of Jerusalem, died today at the hospital.”

Media quickly identified the deceased as Ben-David.

In its statement, the IPS noted the prisoner’s medical condition could not be disclosed due to privacy laws. It added: “As in any instance of a prisoner’s death, an inquiry team has been appointed.”

Ben-David was convicted in 2016 for the kidnapping and murder of Abu Khdeir, who an autopsy indicated was beaten and burned alive in a forest outside Jerusalem. The ringleader’s two accomplices — his nephews, both minors at the time — were sentenced to life in prison and to 21 years, respectively.

The perpetrators saw the murder as a revenge attack for the prior kidnapping and murder of three Israeli students by Hamas terrorists, which was one of the triggers for the 50-day war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza in the summer of........

© The Times of Israel