Court Increases Sentence for Man Who Stole Cars After October 7 Massacre

The Beersheba District Court has increased the prison sentence for Guy Haddad from five and a half years to seven and a half years after accepting a prosecution appeal. Haddad was convicted of stealing five vehicles from Kibbutz Be'eri several days after the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack. The court also rejected Haddad's own appeal against his conviction and sentence.

Haddad, who owns a tow truck company, was found guilty by the Beersheba Magistrate's Court of conspiracy to commit a crime and five counts of vehicle theft. Prosecutors argued that Haddad and an accomplice exploited their status as volunteers at a logistics center assisting soldiers and residents of border communities, gaining access to restricted military zones. Under the guise of evacuating residents' cars, they entered Kibbutz Be'eri, stole five vehicles, and transported them to the Palestinian Authority using forged sales documents.

The Magistrate's Court had initially sentenced Haddad to five and a half years imprisonment, a suspended sentence, a 25,000 shekel fine, a driver's license suspension, and 5,000 shekel compensation to each car owner. The prosecution deemed this sentence too lenient, emphasizing that the crimes occurred in the exceptional circumstances following the massacre, when the public was deeply engaged in volunteer efforts to aid victims.