Nine die in air strikes on Gaza as six suspects held over Palestinian’s murder

Nine militants from the Hamas group have been killed in Israeli air strikes on Gaza amid continued tensions over the murder of Palestinian teenager Mohammed Abu Khdair.

Hamas said seven members died in a strike near Rafah in the south and two others were killed in separate attacks made in response to rocket and mortar fire on Israel.

Israeli police announced yesterday that they had arrested six Jewish suspects over the killing of Abu Khdair, stating that he was apparently “murdered because of his nationality”. More details have not been divulged because the case is subject to a gagging order.

His death followed the kidnapping and murders of three Israeli teenagers in the occupied West Bank, whose bodies were found a week ago. Israel claims two members of Hamas abducted and killed the youths, but the group has denied involvement.

Abu Khdair’s family said that the arrests of the six suspects brought them little joy and that they had little faith in the Israeli justice system.

“I don’t have any peace in my heart, even if they captured who they say killed my son,” said his mother Suha. “They’re only going to ask them questions and then release them. What’s the point?”

She added: “They need to treat them the way they treat us. They need to demolish their homes and round them up, the way they do to our children.”

A 15-year-old Palestinian-American cousin of Abu Khdair was also reportedly beaten by Israeli security forces in east Jerusalem. The boy, Tariq Abu Khdair, who goes to school in Florida, was sentenced to nine days of home detention while Israel’s justice ministry investigates.

The US State Department said it was “profoundly troubled” by claims he was beaten. Police said the boy is suspected of taking part in a riot, but his family deny this.

Meanwhile military officials said about a dozen rockets were fired at Israel from Gaza overnight, and one soldier was injured.

Palestinian militants have fired more than 200 rockets at southern Israel in recent weeks, and it has responded with scores of air strikes on Gaza, calling the rocket attacks “unbearable and unacceptable.”

Israeli President Shimon Peres and Cabinet minister Jacob Peri, a former head of the Shin Bet security agency, have met Arab spokesmen in a bid to defuse tensions.