Life terms sought for Palestinian convicted of killing 3 Israelis

JERUSALEM - 28 December 2017: The prosecution in an Israeli military court demanded a life sentence Wednesday for a Palestinian convicted of murdering three Israelis at a West Bank settlement in July, military sources said.

Omar al-Abed, 20, was found guilty by the court at Ofer near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank of the premeditated killing of three members of the Solomon family in their home on July 21, 2017.

The military prosecutor has asked that he be given four life terms. Sentence will be handed down later.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman had both called for the death penalty in the case.

Abed entered a house in the settlement of Neve Tzuf and killed the three civilians with a knife and wounded a fourth before being shot by a neighbour who had heard the victims' cries.

Abed was also found guilty of the attempted murder of seven people, all family members in the house at the time of the attack.

His father, mother, an uncle and two brothers were sentenced in August to jail terms of between one month and eight months for not preventing Abed's actions.

On August 16, the Israeli military demolished the Abed family home in the village of Kobar near Ramallah.

In a Facebook post before carrying out his attack, Abed expressed his resentment of Israeli actions against the Palestinians and over the disputed Haram al-Sharif mosque compound in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem.

The compound, the third holiest site for Muslims, is also revered by the Jews as the Temple Mount.

Abed's July 21 attack came at a time of high tensions over the sensitive compound.