Protesters gather outside a court in Petah Tikva, holding signs and calling for justice following the killing of Yemanu Zelka, a Pizza Hut employee who was stabbed to death on the eve of Independence Day, May 5, 2026. (Roy Alima/Flash90)

Police seek aggravated murder charge for main teen suspect in Yemanu Zelka killing

Cops say they’ll also recommend charges of joint enterprise murder, aggravated assault for several of other suspects in youths’ deadly stabbing of 21-year-old Pizza Hut employee

by · The Times of Israel

The Israel Police said Friday it was seeking an aggravated murder charge for the main teenage suspect in the killing of 21-year-old Yemanu Binyamin Zelka.

Police said in a statement they had completed their investigation and would also recommend charges of joint enterprise murder and aggravated assault for several of the other suspects in the case.

The prosecutor’s office was expected to file the indictments early next week.

Zelka, a 21-year-old Pizza Hut employee in Petah Tikva, was stabbed to death by a group of adolescents on the eve of Independence Day, after he told them not to spray party foam in the restaurant.

After waiting outside for Zelka to finish his late-night shift, the youths ambushed and beat him, with one assailant taking out a knife and stabbing him. He died of his wounds a day later.

On Monday, police confirmed that they had arrested all 19 minors suspected of involvement in the killing, after two weeks of searches.

Yamenu Binyamin Zelka, who was stabbed and killed at his Pizza Hut job in the early hours of Independence Day. (Social media, undated; used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

According to Hebrew media, the “main suspect” in the case, believed to have carried out the stabbing, is a 15-year-old male. He turned himself in last week.

Since then, he was reportedly stonewalling interrogators, though a report last week said he broke his silence to say, “I didn’t murder. I didn’t stab.”

His parents were arrested on suspicion of tampering with the investigation, according to Channel 12.

The police statement on Friday confirmed that some suspects had sought to evade capture, and said that additional suspects had been arrested on suspicion of helping them, but it didn’t provide further details.

People gather outside a Pizza Hut branch in Petah Tikva, lighting candles and placing flowers in memory of employee Yemanu Binyamin Zelka, who was stabbed and later died of his wounds on the eve of Independence Day, April 24, 2026. (Roy Alima/Flash90)

Channel 12 also reported this week that, during an interrogation, one of the other teenage suspects admitted to beating Zelka while he was on the ground, “just trying to defend himself” amid the stabbing attack.

Asked why he’d continue to hit the victim — whom the interrogator described as “helpless” and “lying in a pool of blood” — the youth reportedly answered: “What should I do? Should I hit him and stop midway through? Everyone was hitting [him]. What? Should I stop?”

Zelka’s killing came as a shock to many Israelis and spurred police to ramp up their efforts to combat juvenile delinquency, particularly in Tel Aviv and its environs.