Mohammed Abu Khdeir was forced into a car early Wednesday in his Palestinian neighborhood in east Jerusalem, according to his relatives, and the 17-year-old has since been found dead on the outskirts of the city. His death is presumed, though not confirmed, to be a vigilante reprisal for recent killings of three Israeli teens in the West Bank, and a representative of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has issued an aggressive statement about the incident. From the Times of Israel:
“Israel is fully responsible for the killing of the teenager and we demand that the perpetrators be found and held accountable,” he says.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on police “to swiftly investigate who was behind the loathsome murder and its motive.”*
Israel has accused Hamas of the murder of the three Israeli teenagers, and has detained hundreds of Hamas members in the West Bank. Meanwhile, rocket fire towards Israel from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip has intensified and has been met with Israeli air strikes.
*Correction, July 2, 2014: This post originally misspelled Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s first name.
