Israeli court gives Palestinian teen two-year sentence for planning attack

An Israeli Juvenile Court sent Tuesday a 14-year-old Palestinian minor to two years in prison after soldiers caught him with a knife after he crossed the security fence into Israel.

The court said that on Dec. 14, the boy, a resident of the West Bank, decided to carry out a knife attack against Israelis amidst the recent nine-month spate of Palestinian unrest.

A military patrol spotted him walking along the security fence shortly after he crossed into Israel. The boy dropped his 12-cm (about 4.7 inches) knife and was arrested without trying to attack the soldiers.

During the investigation, he confessed he was planning to stab Israelis.

His lawyer told the court that the boy changed his mind immediately after he jumped the fence and was walking along the fence to find a hole through which he could make his way back to the West Bank when the soldiers found him.

The justices said a psychological evaluation found the teen to be an "immature child, with poor personality resources and cognitive impairments," which hampered his ability to be aware of the ramifications and graveness of his behavior.

However, he was found guilty amidst a plea deal of causing an injury with grave intent, holding a knife with racial motives, and illegally entering Israel. The justices sentenced him to 18 months in prison and 12 months of probation.

The boy was 14.9 at the time of the act, only nine months above the age in which he can be given a prison sentence.

Also on Tuesday, Israel's military and Shin Bet security service said they had arrested two Hamas operatives who attempted to smuggle money from the Gaza Strip to West Bank to fund "terror activity."

A military spokesperson said in a statement that the incident shows that Hamas, the Islamist movement that controls the Gaza Strip, "exploits permits to (enter) Israel for smuggling of terror funds."

The spokesperson added that during the investigation, the suspects revealed information regarding combat tunnels near mosques in Gaza, as well as rocket launchers placed in populated areas.

Earlier this year, Israel found two tunnels from Gaza into Israeli territory. The military said the tunnels were built after the 51-day war in Gaza in 2014, which was concluded with a fragile truce.

An outbreak of violence since mid-September has killed at least 215 Palestinians and 34 Israelis.

Israeli leaders accuse the Palestinian National Authority of "inciting" the unrest, while the Palestinians say it is the result of 49 years of Israeli occupation of the West Bank, east Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip, home to more than five million Palestinians, where they wish to establish their state. Endit