6 Jul 2014

Palestinian boy burned alive

6:02 am on 6 July 2014

Initial autopsy findings from the body of an East Jerusalem youth who Palestinians believe was kidnapped and killed by far-right Jews show that he was burned alive.

The information comes from the Palestinian attorney-general, after the autopsy was carried out by Israeli doctors in Tel Aviv.

Israeli-Palestinian tensions have risen sharply after three Israeli teens were kidnapped on 12 June and later found dead in the occupied West Bank, Reuters reports.

This was followed on Wednesday by the kidnapping of 16-year-old Mohammed Abu Khudair in his neighbourhood in Arab East Jerusalem.

His charred body was found hours later in a forest on the edge of the city.

At his funeral, furious Palestinians called for a new uprising against Israel.

But Palestinian officials trying to calm tensions have said they would prevent any intifada, and seek a solution to the crisis that began when the three Israeli teens were kidnapped.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Abu Khudair's killing, a day after the three Jewish students were buried, "loathsome" and ordered a swift police investigation.

Israeli authorities said they did not yet know whether Abu Khudair was indeed the victim of a hate crime.

Clashes continued across the occupied West Bank overnight with at least one Palestinian hurt

in the city of Nablus, medical staff said.

Stones thrown at Israeli police were met by teargas, stun grenades and rubber bullets in one of the most highly charged displays of enmity in Jerusalem in years.

Clashes also erupted in Israeli-Arab towns, a police spokesperson said.

JERUSALEM : Israeli police throw stun grenades toward Palestinians during clashes after the Friday prayer outside of the Old City in East Jerusalem on July 4, on the first Friday of the holy fasting month of Ramadan. Israel closed access to the Al-Aqsa Mosque to Palestinian men under the age of 50.

JERUSALEM : Israeli police throw stun grenades toward Palestinians during clashes outside the Old City in East Jerusalem. Photo: THOMAS COEX / AFP