Hundreds attend funeral of Palestinian killed by Israel

By Kaamil Ahmed

JERUSALEM (AA) – Hundreds of Palestinians on Saturday attended the funeral of a youth who was controversially killed by an Israeli soldier two months ago.

Large crowds chanting and waving Palestinian flags carried the body of Abdel-Fattah Sharif, 21, from a mosque to his burial site in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron.

Sharif and Ramzi Qasrawi Tamimi, also 21, were both killed after an alleged stabbing attempt in Hebron in late March, but Sharif's body was only handed back to his family on Friday.

His death prompted fierce debate within Israeli politics after video shot by a volunteer for Israeli human rights group B'Tselem showed him being shot in the head by Israeli soldier Elor Azaria, despite being injured and unarmed at the time.

Azaria was charged with manslaughter by an Israeli military court, though the army's decision to prosecute him has been met with anger from Israel's right-wing, including new right-wing Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who attended an earlier hearing to support the soldier.

Palestinians have argued the manslaughter charge was too lenient for Azaria, who had already been released from custody to stay on an army base and was allowed to visit his family during the Jewish Passover festival in April.