Several Israeli Defense Force soldiers were arrested on Monday on suspicion of throwing an explosive device at a Palestinian house near Bethlehem in the West Bank, the army said in a statement.
There were no reports of injury or damage.
Although the military gave no further details, Hebrew media reports stated that the three soldiers involved were from the Druze community, raising suspicions that the incident was related to the case of Tiran Ferro, a Druze teenager whose body was brought from the West Bank to a Palestinian was seized by the gunmen. Hospital after a car accident last week.
The snatching of Firo’s body angered many members of the Druze community. Before the body was returned, thousands demonstrated in Ferro’s hometown of Dalit al-Karmel and blocked a major highway in a protest march.
The three detained soldiers serve at the headquarters of a tank unit that is stationed in the Bethlehem area, where a house in a Palestinian village was targeted.
It was not clear why that specific home was singled out.
Tiran Fero. (manners)
The Cannes Public Broadcaster reported that a Palestinian resident saw soldiers carrying out the alleged attack and reported them to the IDF.
The soldiers were later arrested by the military police.
Ferro was seriously injured in a car accident in Jenin last week and was taken to a hospital in the Palestinian city. According to IDF and Palestinian media reports, he died at the Ibn Sina Hospital in Jenin and was later stripped of his body by unidentified gunmen.
Tiran’s body was returned to Israel after about 30 hours on Thursday.
Reports said the body was handed over at the Salem crossing near Jenin after intense talks between high-level government and security officials in Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
Mourners hold a photo of Druze teenager Tiran Ferro at her funeral in Daliyat al-Karamel, northern Israel, November 24, 2022. (Shir Torem/Flash90)
Israel had sought a diplomatic solution to the crisis, but was also preparing a military operation to retrieve the body, Hebrew media reports suggested.
His family has claimed that Palestinian gunmen disconnected him from life support and grabbed him from the hospital, while the army and a senior defense source indicated that the teen was already dead when he was taken.
The schoolboy was buried in his hometown of Daliat al-Karmel on Thursday. thousands attended his funeral where his death was mourned as a “disaster”.
Pharaoh’s uncle pleaded for peace in his nephew’s eulogy. “We are a peaceful group,” he said of the Druze minority in Israel. “I ask that everyone act calmly after the funeral. No more lives should be lost. Let us return to a quiet life.
On Saturday, an official Palestinian delegation visited the bereaved family in Dalit al-Karmel. According to a report in Kan News, the condolence march was led by Mahmoud al-Habbash, adviser on religious and Islamic affairs to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
The Jenin region has been seen in recent months as a major hotspot for terrorism and the Palestinian Authority is believed to be losing control of the region.
Emmanuel Fabian contributed to this report.
