Thousands attend funerals for Palestinians killed by Israeli forces

Thousands of Palestinians have attended mass funerals for two Palestinian teenagers killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank, as well as a Palestinian activist who died in an Israeli prison.

Thousands of Palestinian mourners took to the streets in the northern West Bank town of Anabta on Thursday to lay the bodies of two 17 year-olds to rest.

The victims, identified as Naji Balbisi and his cousin, Amer Nassar, were killed at an Israeli checkpoint near the West Bank city of Tulkarm on Wednesday night.

The incident came as Palestinians in the occupied territories protested against the death of Maisarah Abu Hamdiah, a cancer-stricken inmate, who lost his life in an Israeli jail on April 2 due to the lack of medical care.

Palestinian Authority officials in the West Bank gave Hamdiah full military honors at a funeral in al-Khalil (Hebron), with shots fired into the air as his body arrived at a mosque in the city.

In a statement, acting Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmoud Abbas condemned Israel for using lethal force in order to “provoke chaos” in the Palestinian territories, and warned that the escalation could jeopardize the so-called peace process.

In the blockaded Gaza Strip, the Islamic Hamas movement called for a return to armed resistance in response to the recent Israeli aggression.