Ramallah: In an unprecedented move, Israel is seeking more than 8 million shekels in compensation from the widow and children of Fadi Al Qunbar, who killed four Israeli soldiers in a truck-ramming attack in occupied Jerusalem last January.

The claim for damages has been filed by the Israeli public prosecutor from Jerusalem District Court.

Israeli daily, Haaretz reported on Sunday that Israel is set to launch a slew of lawsuits against families of martyred Palestinian assailants in a bid to compensate state spending relating to the attacks. The case against Al Qunbar’s widow and his four children, aged one to eight years old, will be the first.

Israel is seeking two million shekels for each soldier Al Qunbar killed, plus the cost of headstones (8,400 shekels each, around Dh9 million)) and reimbursement of benefits paid by Israel to the soldiers’ families.

Sources in occupied East Jerusalem said the lawsuit comes in addition to numerous severe collective punishments the Israeli authorities have inflicted against the Al Qunbar family and residents of Jabal Al Mukabir, Al Qunbar’s home neighbourhood.

Immediately after the attack — in which Al Qunbar was fatally shot — the Israeli authorities filled the Al Qunbar family home with concrete, displacing his wife and children, and revoked Jerusalem residency status from 13 members of the family, including Al Qunbar’s mother. Israel has also withheld Al Qunbar’s remains to prevent a proper burial.

These collective punishments have been carried out despite Israel’s acceptance that the family had no knowledge of any plans to carry out the attack.

Dalia Kerstein, director of the Hamoked Centre for the Defence of the Individual, which is supporting the family, said: “The Al Qunbar family is experiencing a revenge campaign by the establishment.”

Since October 2015, the Palestinian territories and Israel have been rocked by a wave of violence which has seen 400 Palestinians martyred and 40 Israelis killed, plus three foreigners.

Mufeed Al Haj, a Palestinian lawyer representing the Al Qunbar family, said that an earlier court ruling had given families of dead or injured Israelis the right of compensation, and many relatives had collectively filed lawsuits. If the attacker was dead, the relatives could sue their families.

Al Haj said the Al Qunbar family had no resources to pay any kind of compensation.