Palestinian families push Israel to return attackers’ bodies

Israel has returned the bodies of three Palestinians killed carrying out attacks against Israelis, their families said Tuesday, in the first such handover in east Jerusalem in three months of violence. The other suspect, who is a minor and a West Bank settler, was listed as an accomplice to the murder and also a member of the same extremist group.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approved a return to the policy of home demolitions in October, despite objections by a military committee that they do not deter attacks.

The Israeli soldier is said to have been seriously injured.

Contradicting police findings, witnesses from Duma maintained after the attack they saw two suspects fleeing the scene, not one.

A Palestinian man’s apparent plan to stab Israelis in Jerusalem Sunday was unwittingly obstructed when his knife bent upon stabbing his victim.

Relatives of the Dawabsheh family, however, questioned why it took more than six months to bring charges and why only two people were indicted.

At least 145 Palestinians, including children and women, have lost their lives at the hands of Israeli forces since the beginning of the wave of violence.

The attacker was identified as a 21-year-old Palestinian from the Bethlehem area.

Although both attackers were shot and killed on the spot, the decision to demolish their homes was approved by Israel’s High Court of Justice in December, Israeli news outlets report.

Israeli forces on Monday destroyed the east Jerusalem homes of two Palestinians who killed four Israelis in one of the deadliest days in the recent surge in violence. This, compared to 65.5% in the Arab Israeli sector.

Netanyau said the indictments demonstrated the rule of law in Israel, telling his cabinet in broadcast remarks: “We oppose murder of all kinds”.

The attack was condemned across the political spectrum of Israel, while the Israel Defense Forces, which is responsible for security in the West Bank, described it as Jewish terrorism.

Israeli officials said their investigation into the attacks by far-right Jews were hampered by the suspects’ operating in small tight-knit cells and eluding electronic surveillance.

A police statement said Sunday’s indictments were the fruit of “the investment of many resources including technological means, initiative, innovation and creativity”.