Clashes In Jerusalem Between Israeli Police, Palestinians After Body Found In Forest
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A Palestinian teen was abducted and killed Wednesday, Palestinians said, accusing Israeli settlers of carrying out a revenge attack for the deaths of three Israeli youths. The accusation sparked clashes with Israeli forces and demands by the Palestinian president that Israel hold the killers accountable.
The latest claim stokes tensions already heightened by the deaths of the three Israeli teens, whose bodies were found this week two weeks after they were abducted in the West Bank, and a surge in fighting between Israel and Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip.
Just hours after Israel buried the three teens, relatives of Mohammed Abu Khdeir said the 17-year-old was forced into a car in a neighborhood of east Jerusalem before it sped off. A burned body was found shortly afterward in a Jerusalem forest.
Later Wednesday, Abu Khdeir’s family said it had identified the body. The teen’s cousin, Saed Abu Khdeir, said the family believed the youth was killed by Israelis in an act of revenge.
“It’s a clear crime by settlers in revenge for the killing of the three,” he said. Abu Khdeir said the family witnessed security camera footage of the suspected kidnapping, which purported to show a car nearing Mohammed Abu Khdeir and taking him away.
As news of the youth’s disappearance spread, hundreds of Palestinians in east Jerusalem torched light rail train stations and hurled stones at Israeli police, who responded with tear gas and stun grenades.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged caution. He called on authorities to swiftly investigate the “reprehensible murder” and called on all sides “not to take the law into their own hands.”
On Tuesday, hundreds of right-wing Jewish youths marched through Jerusalem, calling for revenge of the deaths of the Israeli teens.
Israel has accused Hamas militants of abducting and killing the three teens, and has arrested hundreds of its members across the West Bank.
Rocket fire from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip has meanwhile intensified, and been met with Israeli air strikes. The barrage continued Wednesday, with the military saying five mortar shells were launched from Gaza to Israel.
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