UNICEF slams killing of Israeli, Palestinian teenagers

The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) on Wednesday condemned the recent killing of Israeli and Palestinian teenagers, and opposed violence against children in both Jerusalem and the West Bank, according to a statement issued here.

"The justified outrage at the killing of a Palestinian teenager in Jerusalem today, and that seen at the funerals yesterday of three young Israelis murdered in the West Bank, are a reminder that we must never become accustomed to such attacks against children, anywhere, in any way, and at any time," said the statement.

The UN agency condemned all these most recent killings because they are terrible crimes and also because nothing could be more damaging to hopes for peace in the region.

It also asked the perpetrators be held accountable for killing children and deliberate violence against them.

"UNICEF extends its deepest condolences to the families of the murdered children," the statement said. "We reiterate the UN secretary-general's call for restraint to prevent further loss of life. And we remind all parties to the conflict of their legal and moral obligation to protect children from harm."

Early on Wednesday morning, police found a body of an Arab youth in the Jerusalem Forest. The police suspected the murder was done as a revenge for the murder of three Israeli teens, whose bodies were buried in a public and high-profile funeral ceremony on Tuesday, where thousands of Israelis mourned the teenagers' passing.

The police are investigating whether the body found in Jerusalem is of Mohammed Abu Khder, a Palestinian teenager resident of East Jerusalem, who was reported to be missing around the same time. The police also received a call from an eyewitness who reported a Palestinian youth was seen forced in a vehicle near Beit Hanina, an Arab neighborhood of Jerusalem.

Tensions between Israelis and Palestinians have soared since Eyal Yifrach, 19, Gil-Ad Sha'ar, 16, and Naftali Frankel, 16, were abducted in the West Bank on June 12 and subsequently murdered. Israel has repeatedly blamed the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas for the kidnapping and launched a wide-scale crackdown on the group, arresting hundreds of Palestinians and storming thousands of Palestinian homes and public institutions.

The murder of the Palestinian youth came just one day after hundreds of Jewish extremists marched Jerusalem in an anti-Arab rally. More than 40 demonstrators were arrested for rioting.