A Tel Aviv court on Wednesday accepted the plea bargain in the "Benny Hadayag affair," and convicted the five defendants in the case on charges of manslaughter and kidnapping.

The defense and the prosecution are expected to request the court hand down a sentence of three to six years in prison for each of the five defendants.

The suspects were originally charged with murder and kidnapping, but the indictment was revised after police refused a request to reveal the identity of their witness in the case.

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The victim in the murder-kidnapping case is Khader Daka, who was killed in July 2005 and allegedly mediated in a dispute between the owners of Benny Hadayag, a fish restaurant in the old Tel Aviv port, and a Gaza fisherman. According to the charge sheet, the suspects were Jaffa-based hit men allegedly hired to kill Daka.

The prosecution charged Izzat Hamad, its main suspect, and head of Jaffa's largest crime gang, with murdering Daka because of his arbitration in the dispute.

The indictment said Hamad met Daka and his cousin, Aslam Daka, on July 16, 2005. Hamad and four friends attacked and bound the two and put them into the boot of a car. Daka and his cousin managed to escape, but the assailants chased them, shooting and killing Daka. Aslam escaped.