Hamas man sentenced by Israel to life for teen killings that led to Gaza war
JERUSALEM
The court found that Hussam Kawasmeh, a member of the militant Hamas Islamist group, planned the abduction in which Eyal Yifrach, 19, and Gilad Shaer and Naftali Fraenkel, both 16, were shot dead while hitchhiking in the occupied West Bank in June.
Kawasmeh was arrested in August and charged with murder. A three-judge panel sentenced him to three life terms, according to a court document released to the media.
Two Hamas operatives suspected of having killed the youngsters after picking them up on a road near a Jewish settlement died in a firefight with Israeli forces at their West Bank hideout in September.
The bodies of the three Israelis were found in the West Bank nearly three weeks after their disappearance.
In an alleged revenge attack in July, a Palestinian teenager, Mohammed Abu Khudair, was abducted and burned to death in Jerusalem by three suspected Jewish assailants, who have since been charged with his murder.
Khudair's death and sweeping arrests by Israel of suspected Hamas men across the West Bank led to clashes between Palestinians and Israeli police in East Jerusalem and cross-border rocket fire from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.
A seven-week-long Gaza war ensued in July and August in which, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry, more than 2,100 Palestinians, most of them civilians, were killed. Sixty-seven Israeli soldiers and six civilians in Israel were also killed.
(Writing by Maayan Lubell; Editing by Jeffrey Heller/Jeremy Gaunt)
Islamic State school closures in Syria affect 670,000 - U.N.
Islamic State school closures in Syria affect 670,000 - U.N.
GENEVA
Islamic State, an offshoot of al Qaeda which has recruited foreign fighters, has seized land in Syria and Iraq, imposing its strict reading of Islamic law.
In November it shut schools in areas it controls in eastern Syria pending a religious revision of the curriculum.. The group stands accused of massacres, sexually enslaving women and girls and recruiting children as fighters.
"In December there was a decree of the Islamic State ordering the stoppage of education in areas under its control," UNICEF spokesman Christophe Boulierac told a news briefing.
The militant group decreed that schools be closed until the school curriculum had been made "compliant with the religious rules", he told Reuters.
Children enrolled in primary and secondary schools in Raqqa, and rural areas of Deir al-Zor and Aleppo provinces are affected by the closures, he said. Teachers must undergo retraining.
In all, 4.3 million Syrian children are enrolled nationwide this school year, according to the education ministry, but between 2.1 million and 2.4 million are currently either out of school or attending classes irregularly, UNICEF said.
UNICEF also said that at least 160 children were killed and 343 wounded in attacks on schools across Syria last year. The toll was probably an under-estimate due to difficulties of access and obtaining data, Boulierac said.
"In addition to lack of school access, attacks on schools, teachers and students are further horrific reminders of the terrible price Syria's children are paying in a crisis approaching its fifth year," Hanaa Singer, UNICEF representative in Syria, said in a statement.
Islamic State has been the target of U.S.-led air strikes in both Syria and Iraq since September.
(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; editing by John Stonestreet and Dominic Evans)
COPY http://uk.reuters.com/
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