The Samaria military court on Sunday sentenced Mohammed Mustafa Dara, 23, of Kakilya, to life plus an additional 10 years for his involvement in the murder of seven-year-old Noam Leibovtich on June 17, 2003. Noam was traveling with her parents along the Trans-Israel highway when Palestinian gunmen opened fire, killing her and wounding several other family members. The Leibovitch family was on their way home to the Yemin Orde educational community on Mount Carmel, south of Haifa, on the night of the attack. Noam's father, Shlomo, who was driving, had decided to take a shortcut along the Trans Israel Highway. They had just reached the intersection near Kibbutz Eyal, and were preparing to leave the highway so they could take Noam's grandparents to Netanya, when a Palestinian terrorist opened fire from close range on the vehicle. The bullets riddled the car and shattered the windows, killing Noam, seriously wounding her younger sister Shiva, aged three, and lightly wounding her elder brother and her grandfather, Shmuel Aviad. Aviad and his grandson were treated at the scene and then taken to hospital along with Shira. Efforts to resuscitate Noam were made in vain, and she was pronounced dead at the scene.
Shin Bet agents, aided by IDF troops, later captured three members of the Islamic Jihad cell, which carried out the attack. The terrorist cell used a cafe and mosque in Kalkilya to plan the attack and distribute weapons and money funneled from abroad, security sources said.