In the first incident of its kind, a Palestinian family has killed its 15-year-old son in the West Bank after accusing him of "collaboration" with Israel.
An Islamic Jihad gunman drags a suspected "collaborator" through the streets of Gaza.
Photo: AP
Raed Wael Sawalha's body was discovered in the basement of a house in his village of Hijjah in the Kalkilya area on Wednesday.
The Palestinian Authority security forces announced that they have arrested a number of the boy's family members in connection with the killing.
The suspects confessed, saying they decided to kill Sawalha because of his alleged connections with the Israeli authorities, PA security sources said.
Sawalha is the youngest Palestinian to be killed on suspicion of collaboration.
Hundreds of other suspected collaborators have also been killed by Palestinians over the past few years.
A preliminary investigation launched by PA security forces revealed that Sawalha had been brutally tortured before he was hanged.
Villagers initially believed that the boy had either committed suicide or hanged himself accidentally while playing with friends.
Gen. Adnan Damiri, spokesman for the PA security forces in the West Bank, said the perpetrators were all members of the boy's family, including his father, uncle and cousin.
He expressed outrage over the crime and pledged that those involved would be brought to trial and punished.
