MIDDLE EAST: Palestinians hold funerals for three militants killed by the Israeli army in West Bank city of Jenin

Record ID: 859285

  • Title: MIDDLE EAST: Palestinians hold funerals for three militants killed by the Israeli army in West Bank city of Jenin
  • Date: 22nd March 2014
  • Summary: JENIN, WEST BANK (MARCH 22, 2014) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF HUNDREDS OF PALESTINIANS MARCHING THROUGH JENIN STREETS CARRYING BODIES OF THREE KILLED BY ISRAELI ARMY PEOPLE CARRYING HAMAS FLAGS DURING FUNERAL VARIOUS OF FUNERAL GUNMEN AT FUNERAL VARIOUS OF FUNERAL PROCESSION GAZA CITY, GAZA (MARCH 22, 2014) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) HAMAS SPOKESMAN, FAWZI BARHOUM, SAYING: "We assure that this a double crime, it only happened due to the security co-ordination between the security forces of the Palestinian Authority and the Israeli occupation. This is an abominable crime. This crime in the West Bank should be a turning point in the resistance to save our people, land and shrines." HAMAS SPOKESMAN, FAWZI BARHOUM, AT HIS OFFICE
  • Embargoed: 6th April 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Gaza, West bank
  • City:
  • Country: Palestinian Territories
  • Topics: Crime,General,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAR57J5TR1JTH6Y20UPJ4IEJ6Q
  • Aspect Ratio:
  • Story Text: Thousands of Palestinians mourned the death of three Palestinian militants on Saturday (March 22), who were killed during a raid on a home in the occupied West Bank to capture a wanted Hamas Islamist militant.
    Palestinians carried the three bodies through the streets of the West Bank city of Jenin, scene of the clashes.
    Militants fired guns into the air at the men's' funeral.
    Flags from their armed groups draped their coffins and thousands of mourners shouted calls for revenge and chanted against Abbas's involvement in talks with Israel.
    Hamas spokesperson Fawzi Barhoum blamed the Palestinian Authority for the killing of the group's militant.
    "We assure that this a double crime, it only happened due to the security co-ordination between the security forces of the Palestinian Authority and the Israeli occupation. This is an abominable crime. This crime in the West Bank should be a turning point in the resistance to save our people, land and shrines," said Barhoum.
    The Palestinian Authority denounced the violence that it said threatened U.S.-brokered peace talks ahead of a looming April deadline set by Secretary of State John Kerry.
    The Israeli military said its forces raided a home in a refugee camp in Jenin where they shot and killed a Hamas militant, Hamza Abu Alhija, after he opened fire. Two Israeli troops were wounded when he shot at them, they said.
    The two other Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces as they confronted protesters throwing petrol bombs and rocks at them during the raid to capture Alhija, 24, a suspect in past attacks against Israelis, the military said.
    Palestinian officials confirmed three militants had been killed, Alhija from Hamas and one each from Islamic Jihad and Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, which is linked to Abbas' Fatah movement.
    Palestinian officials said before Saturday's incident that Israeli forces had killed 57 Palestinians and injured almost 900 since the resumption of peace talks last July.
    The fighting was some of the worst seen in Jenin since a 2002 Israeli incursion in the area, highlighting rising tensions between the sides, three days after troops killed a Palestinian youth elsewhere in the West Bank.
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