Mohammed Abu Khudair, 17-year-old Palestinian from Shuafat, was killed this morning after being kidnapped in Beit Hanina, East Jerusalem. His body was found in a forest in Givat Shaul in southwest Jerusalem. The cause of death is not known at the moment.
The Israeli Police have said they received reports of a possible kidnapping early this morning, when someone called saying they had seen unidentified men force a Palestinian boy into a car in the neighborhood of Beit Hanina, north of Jerusalem. Later on they also received a call from the family who reported their son had disappeared. They found the body shortly afterwards.
Palestinian sources in Jerusalem have said that he was kidnapped and killed by a group of extremist Israeli settlers around dawn today. Eyewitnesses reported that a Hyundai car stopped next to the boy and the passengers pulled the boy in before running away following the road to Tel Aviv.
Following the announcement of the death of Mohammed, the residents of Shuafat gathered in the area where the boy was allegedly kidnapped to show their anger.
The Israeli police have declared they will investigate the incidents that led to the killing of Mohammed Abu Khudair this morning.
Dozens of Jewish extremists participated yesterday in a demonstration in Jerusalem calling for the 'death of Arabs' in Jerusalem, and there have been other attacks from Israeli settlers against Palestinians, both in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Although settler violence is not uncommon, there has been an upsurge following the killing of the three Israeli settlers whose bodies were found two days ago near Hebron, in the West Bank.
