An Israeli military court on Monday sentenced a Palestinian man to five life sentences, plus additional five years for other charges, for the brutal murder of five members of an Israeli family, including an infant, in last March.

Amjad Awwad, 19, and his cousin, Hakim Mazen Awwad, 18, broke into the settlement of Itamar, southeast of Nablus on March 11, 2011. Armed with knives, the two entered the Fogel family's house and attacked the sleeping husband and his wife, stabbing them both to death, along with their month-old daughter, who was sleeping in their bed.

The attackers continued to break into the adjoining bedrooms, killing two children, aged 11 and three. The family's oldest child, 12-year-old Tamar, was out of the house at the time. She arrived at the gruesome scene a short time later, finding that her two younger brothers had survived the attack unharmed.

Awwad smiled as he entered the courtroom for sentencing at the Samaria military court, according to the Ynet news site.

"The deeds that Awwad confessed to are monstrous," the presiding judge said during the sentencing.

"(Awwad) has not a shred of remorse or shame over his actions, and no civilized person can comprehend his primitive, monstrous hatred," the judges' panel wrote, according to Israel Radio.

Due to the heinousness of the murders, the judges had considered imposing the death penalty, according to the Haaretz daily, but did not want to impose a sentence harsher than that requested by the prosecution.

"I don't regret what I did, and would do it again," Amjad Awad said in last May, adding that "I'm proud of what I did and I'll accept any punishment I get, even death, because I did it all for Palestine," according to The Jerusalem Post.

Hakim received an identical prison term in last September.

The two are from a family clan that makes up about half of the nearby village of Awartaa, in the northern West Bank.

While the sentencing was taking place, alert soldiers at a nearby roadblock identified and stopped two Palestinians who were found carrying 11 pipe bombs, a homemade pistol and bullets.

The duo said they had planned to attack the court during the sentencing, according to the Israel Defense Forces spokesman.