Israeli court sentences 2 over Palestinian teenager’s murder

The Israeli sentenced to 21 years, the youngest of the three who was said to have psychiatric problems, was found to have remained in the auto when Abu Khdeir was killed.

A relative of the two teenagers, 31-year-old Israeli settler Yosef Haim Ben-David, is accused of leading the ethnically charged killing.

The court has yet to rule if Ben-David is mentally competent to stand trial.

The officers stopped them, and as they began checking one of their ID cards, the other two drew guns and knives and attacked two female officers. The security guard asked them to identify themselves.

Hussein Abu Khdeir, Mohammed’s father, told Israel Radio he would appeal the shorter sentence to the Supreme Court.

The state had sought life prison terms for both underaged defendants, but voiced satisfaction with Thursday’s sentencing.

Israeli forces also raided the family homes of the three youth who committed the attack and notified them that their homes would be demolished, requesting they evacuate their belongings in preparation for the demolition.

Authorities have said Abu Khdeir was killed in retaliation. “He did not deserve this”. The incident was part of a series of events that culminated in the 2014 Gaza war.

Muhammad was snatched from an East Jerusalem street on the early hours of July 2 previous year and taken to a forest where he was beaten, doused in petrol and set on fire.

The policewoman died of a gunshot wound to the head that she suffered when the border police approached the Palestinians for identity checks, Israeli authorities said.

The court’s actions came with tensions once again high.

An Israeli border policeman patrols an area near the scene where three Palestinians were shot dead by Israeli police after carrying out a shooting and stabbing attack outside Damascus gate to Jerusalem’s old city.

Wednesday’s attack with automatic weapons, knives and explosive devices killed a 19-year-old police officer and wounded another.

Security forces locked down the area after the attack as crowds gathered to see what happened or to try to return to their homes in the Old City.

Twenty-six Israelis and one US citizen were killed in a string of lone-wolf attacks by Palestinians in the past four and a half months.