Militants return Israeli teen’s body

Fero was disconnected from hospital equipment: Relatives

The body of an Israeli teen that was taken by Palestinian militants from a West Bank hospital was returned to his family yesterday, the Israeli military said.

Relatives of Tiran Fero, 17, said Palestinian militants in the West Bank city of Jenin entered the hospital where Fero was seeking treatment after a car crash.

They disconnected him from hospital equipment while still alive, according to his father, and removed him from the hospital. The Israeli military said

Fero was already dead when he was snatched and that the circumstances of the teenager’s death remained under investigation.

The incident threatened to ratchet up already boiling tensions between Israel and the Palestinians, but the body’s return appeared to defuse that for now.

Fero was from Israel’s Druze Arab minority, members of which serve in the Israeli security forces and also have links to Palestinians.

No negotiations

An Israeli military official said that the return of the body was conducted through the Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited autonomy in areas of the West Bank, and that no negotiations were made with the gunmen who held the body. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.

Akram Rajoub, the Palestinian governor of Jenin, told Israel’s Kan public radio that the kidnapping of Fero’s body was “a big mistake,” and that Palestinian officials made great efforts to secure its release. He extended condolences to Fero’s family and the Druze community.

It was not immediately clear what prompted the kidnapping. Palestinian militants in the past have carried out kidnappings to seek concessions from Israel but the Jenin militants issued no public statement about the act.