The District Attorney of Jerusalem filed an indictment with the Jerusalem District Court against three men accused to causing the death of Orit London. 

London was kill when the apartment building in which she lived in Pisgat Ze’ev was set on fire by the three suspects. 

The defendants are all charged with manslaughter and arson. One is charged with theft and two are also accused of obstruction of justice. The prosecution seeks to keep them in custody throughout the entire legal proceedings against them. 

The conflict that resulted in the fire on 15 Betzalel Batzrawi Street began as a dispute between two couples – both Jewish women living with Arab partners. 

One of the couples – Ahmed Badran and Hodaya Alaluf – lived in a rented apartment on the second floor of the building. The male partner of the other couple, Faiz Ragbi, along with two other Arab assailants decided to set their apartment on fire.

The second two assailants have been named as Samih Ragbi (25) and Mohammad Shawiki (21) from Kfar Ekev. 

The indictment filed by attorney Miriam Ben-Gal alleges that on January 23 the three defendants were walking in Tel Aviv, where they planned to burn Badran and Alaluf’s apartment because of the conflict between the two couples. 

During the evening, Samih Ragby called Badran several times to ensure he and Alaluf were not home. The three traveled to Jerusalem using Shawiki’s car and arrived at around 3:00 a.m. 

Shawiki waited in the car, while both Samih and Faiz entered the building, broke into Badran and Alaluf’s apartment. They use lighter fluid to ignite the sheets of the double bed and then stole Badran and Alaluf’s clothes and perfumes. 

They left the apartment when the bed caught on fire and fled in Shawiki’s car. 

The fire quickly spread to the third floor where Orit London lived with her husband Yonatan, who was at work at the time. She was caught up in the flames without a way out and suffered critical wounds. 

By the time fire crews were able to reach her, she was lying unconscious in her bathroom. She was hospitalized for two weeks with carbon dioxide poisoning caused by smoke inhalation, before she succumbed to her wounds.