Revenge attack on Palestinians in Israel – Three arrested

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Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz said that if the incident was revealed to be an act of revenge, the army was facing a “serious incident that requires accountability”

Three Israeli soldiers were arrested today, the army said, as they allegedly launched an improvised explosive device attack on Palestinians near the city of Bethlehem of the West Bank in an act of revenge for grabbing the body of a teenager last week.

On Wednesday, in the occupied West Bankwhich has been experiencing an escalation of violence since March, PalaIsraeli gunmen kidnapped the body of an Israeli Druze high school student from a hospital in the city of Jenin, where he had been taken after a car accident, according to the Israel Defense Forces.

The incident left open the possibility that the military would launch an offensive to recover the teenager’s body. However, the body was quietly returned after about 30 hours following negotiations that a diplomat said involved the United Nations.

The gunmen did not make their motives known, but Palestinians demonstrated in Jenin the same day, demanding the release of the remains of their relatives they said were being held by Israel. The Druze is an Arab community in Israel whose members serve in its armed forces.

The Israeli military said in a statement that it had launched an investigation into the attack on Palestinians near Bethlehem by Israeli Druze soldiers today, but could not provide further details.

Israel’s defense minister Benny Gantz said that if the incident is revealed to have been an act of revenge, the military faces a “serious incident that requires accountability”.

“Israeli soldiers do not take the law into their own hands and do not retaliate,” Gantz tweeted.

RES-EMP

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