Palestinians return crash victim’s body
The body of an Israeli teen who died following a car accident on Tuesday in the occupied West Bank was returned by Palestinians to his family yesterday night, according to the Israeli army.
Tiran Fero, 17, a member of the Druze minority, had been taken to a hospital in the West Bank city of Jenin following the accident.
“As a result of the efforts of the security forces and in coordination with the Palestinian authorities, the body of an Israeli man killed in a car accident in Jenin on Tuesday was transferred to his family in Israel,” the Israeli army said in a statement.
His body was taken by gunmen from the hospital after the accident, according to his family.
Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid had on Wednesday threatened strong reprisals against those who had taken the body.
Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz thanked the Palestinian Authority on Twitter for “this humanitarian gesture that comes after a miserable and inhumane act”.
Meanwhile, An Israeli-Canadian teen was killed and 14 people were wounded on Wednesday as the first bombings in Jerusalem in years hit two bus stops, with Palestinian militant group Hamas cheering the unclaimed attacks.
A search was underway for suspects who targeted an area frequented by ultra-Orthodox Jews at the city’s western exit, as violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict flares and while Israeli politicians discuss the make-up of a coalition government.
Israeli police described the blasts as “a combined terror attack” and said explosive charges were planted at the two bus stops.
The first blast killed one teenager and wounded 11 other people, before a second injured three at a stop nearby, hospitals treating the casualties said.
The prime minister’s office identified the boy killed as 15-year-old Aryeh Schupak, who Canada said was one of its citizens.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he was “saddened” by the killing and condemned the violence “in the strongest possible terms”.
The Shin Bet domestic security agency told AFP the blasts were the first in Jerusalem since 2016, and said 34 bombings had been thwarted this year.
An AFP photographer said the first blast had ripped a hole through a metal fence behind the bus stop. Police said the second explosion struck half an hour later, tearing through the side of a bus. The bus driver said the stop was “very full” when the blast hit. A security source told AFP the bombs were detonated remotely.
Palestinian militant group Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, praised the bombings.
“We congratulate our Palestinian people and our people in the occupied city of Jerusalem on the heroic special operation at the bus stop,” Hamas spokesman Abd al-Latif al-Qanua said.
The attacks hit amid talks on the make-up of a coalition government being formed by prime minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu, a veteran hawk.