Three of six Israelis held over the abduction and killing of 16-year-old Palestinian teenager Muhammed Abu Khdeir last week have now confessed to his murder.
They are being held in custody in Israeli jails.
Muhammed’s autopsy showed soot in his lungs and respiratory tract, revealing that he was burnt alive.
Muhammed’s 15-year-old cousin, Tariq Abu Khdeir, was brutally beaten up by Israeli police at his funeral last Thursday.
Tariq said yesterday: ‘I said “Hi” to him ten minutes before he died. I was driving by. I came back ten minutes later and he got kidnapped.’
At Mohammed’s funeral Tariq was arrested and brutally beaten up by Israeli forces.
He said: ‘I was actually standing there watching the funeral protest, while I heard some people screaming from the left side of me, and then they came and behind them were two or three soldiers.
‘And there was a fence in front of me, so I tried to jump the fence and I fell on my face. And the soldiers came right behind me and picked me up and threw me on the floor.
‘Then they punched me in the face and I went unconscious and I woke up in hospital.’
Tariq’s mother, Suha Abu Khdeir, asked: ‘If you want to take somebody, you have to beat them up like this?
‘Everyone they take they beat, but I’ve never seen anybody to this extent. Beating to kill. It’s like attempted murder.’
Nine Palestinians were killed by Zionist forces in Gaza overnight on Sunday-Monday, as a result of Israeli airstrikes on the besieged enclave.
PLO Executive Committee member, Dr Hanan Ashrawi, yesterday called on the United Nations Security Council ‘to uphold its responsibilities in maintaining international peace and security throughout the world and to act immediately to put an end to further Israeli acts of excessive force and violence throughout the West Bank (including occupied East Jerusalem) and in Gaza.
‘Israel must be held accountable for its flagrant violations of international law and vicious attacks and crimes against the Palestinians.’
This call to action came in response to Israel’s extrajudicial killing of nine Palestinians by Israeli airstrikes in Gaza overnight; the two Palestinian workers (Zahi Subi Abu Hamed from Qalqiliya and Anwar Astal from Tulkarem) who were run over and killed by a settler on the side of the road in Haifa; and the ongoing Israeli campaign of terror and aggression throughout the occupied Palestinian territory.
Ashrawi continued: ‘We strongly denounce the targeting and killing of innocent Palestinian civilians, the repeated kidnapping of and violence against Palestinian children, and the countless arrests of Palestinian men, women and children.
‘Such actions are the direct result of Israel’s willful attempts to expand its land grab and subjugation of the Palestinian people.
‘In addition, the number of incidents of Palestinians, including children, assaulted and run over by Israeli settlers has risen significantly, and Israel and its army have done very little to prevent further settler violence against Palestinians or to bring the settlers to justice.
‘Since Israel and its violent settler population continue to enjoy immunity for their actions time after time, we call on all members of the international community to act quickly and stop granting Israel a license to commit murder and terror.
‘Now is the time for the world to safeguard the rights of the Palestinian people and to bring Israel to adhere to its legal obligations and responsibilities as outlined in international law and conventions.’
