Reports: Suspects arrested in murder of Palestinian teen

Marcy Oster

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israeli police have arrested several suspects in the kidnap and murder of a Palestinian teen, Israeli media are reporting.

No details are available about the suspects, since the arrests reported Sunday afternoon are under a media gag order.

An unnamed Israeli police official told the Associated Press on Sunday that evidence in the  continuing investigation points toward a revenge murder by Jewish nationalists.

Police have not confirmed that the arrests took place, according to reports, saying only that a “dramatic development” had occurred in the case which reinforces the idea that the killing was nationalistically motivated.

Muhammed Abu Khieder was buried on Friday afternoon following Ramadan prayers.Palestinian Authority Attorney General Mohammed Al-A’wewy told the official Palestinian Wafa news agency that Khieder was burned alive in the early morning attack on July 2, hours after the burial of three kidnapped Israeli teens whose bodies were found in a shallow grave in a field near Hebron.

On Saturday, Israeli soldiers arrested a third man believed to be connected to the murder on June 12 of three Israeli teens.

Husam Dofsh, who was missing from his Hebron home since the abduction, is suspected of assisting the killers of Gilad Shaar and Naftali Fraenkel, both 16, and Eyal Yifrach, 19.

Two West Bank Palestinian men affiliated with Hamas previously were identified as the alleged abductors of three Israeli teens.

Israel’s Shin Bet security service and the Israel Defense Forces have identified Amer Abu Aysha and Marwan Kawasme as the alleged kidnappers. The suspects, who live in Hebron, have been missing since the June 12 kidnapping.