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Israeli sentenced to life for murder of Palestinian

The convicts said they killed Abu Khdeir in revenge after the murder of three Israeli settlers in June 2014. A forensic report showed smoke in his lungs, indicating he was alive when set alight.

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Ben David was the leader of the group that kidnapped, beat and burned the boy to death.

Even though the identities of the two teenagers that helped Ben-David have not been revealed one of them was sentenced to life in prison.

After the sentence of life in prison was read, members of the Abu Khdeir family said the punishment was too lenient.

The killing – and the murders of the three Israeli youths days earlier – triggered a chain of events that led to the 50-day Gaza war.

Israeli authorities said the three made a decision to kill an Arab and equipped themselves with cables, petrol and other materials before choosing Abu Khdeir at random.

Israel had in recent months returned dozens of bodies of Palestinian attackers to the West Bank.

Ben-David was ordered to pay 20,000 shekels (approximately $5,000) to the family of another Palestinian child he attempted to kidnap the night before the Abu Khdeir murder, the news release said.

Ben-David’s lawyers said their client, who claimed to the “Messiah”, was not criminally responsible for his actions, but the claim was rejected. Seventy one Israelis were killed, “including 66 soldiers, a security coordinator and four civilians”.

The court hearing went ahead with tensions once again high in Israel.

A Palestinian young man was shot and killed Tuesday evening by Israeli gunfire after he allegedly rammed his auto into a group of Israeli soldiers near the illegal settlement of Dolev in Ramallah, injuring three of them.

However, the Magen David Adom rescue service said one of those hit by the auto had been badly injured.

The Palestinian health ministry identified the dead man as Ahmed Reyad Shehada, 36, a resident of Bitunia near the town of Ramallah, close to where the incident took place.

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Later, Monday night Israeli police said a 60 year-old-man was evacuated to hospital for treatment after he was stabbed in Jerusalem’s old city in what it said was likely a Palestinian attack.

An Israeli man has been sentenced to life in prison for murdering a Palestinian teenager