Reuters, Ramallah :
Initial autopsy findings from the body of an East Jerusalem youth who Palestinians believe was kidnapped and killed by far-right Jews showed that he was burned alive, the Palestinian attorney-general is reported as saying.
“The direct cause of death was burns as a result of fire and it’s complications,” Mohammed Al-A’wewy was quoted as saying
by Palestinian official news agency Wafa late on Friday.
Israeli-Palestinian tensions have risen sharply after three Israeli teens were kidnapped on June 12 and later found dead in the occupied West Bank.
This was followed on Wednesday by the kidnapping of Mohammed Abu Khudair, 16, in his neighborhood in Arab East Jerusalem. His charred body was found hours later in a forest on the edge of the city.
Saber Al-Aloul, the director of the Palestinian forensic institute, attended the autopsy which was carried out by Israeli doctors in Tel Aviv.
Al-A’wewy said Al-Aloul had reported fire dust material was found in Khudair’s respiratory canal which meant “the boy had inhaled this material while he was burnt alive.” Burns covered 90 percent of the surface of the body. The head suffered a cut. Samples like liquids and tissues were taken for more lab examinations to complete the legal medical report.
