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Asheri was killed right after abduction
The IDF confirmed early Thursday a report the Popular Resistance Committees issued from Gaza that it had executed Eliyahu Asheri, 18, of Itamar, who was kidnapped earlier this week in the West Bank. Asheri's family has been notified. His funeral was scheduled to take place at 2:30 p.m. in Jerusalem, with the funeral procession to pass from Beit Sanhedria to the Mount of Olives in the city. Meanwhile, the Zohar Rabbinical Organization published a religious decree on Thursday stating that hitchhiking with an unknown driver is a sin. OC Central Command Maj.-Gen. Yair Naveh revealed on Thursday morning that the youth had been shot in the head immediately after the kidnapping on Sunday. On Wednesday, elite police and IDF forces arrested Popular Resistance Committees operative Osam Abu Rajil, who was suspected to have been involved in the kidnapping. Abu Rajil led the forces to a mountainside north of Ramallah, where Asheri's body was found buried, Army Radio reported. Naveh confirmed Thursday that Abu Rajil was personally involved in the kidnapping. Naveh told Army Radio that the cell that abducted Asheri was instructed and paid by sources in Gaza for the kidnapping. Rabbi Avi Ronsky, head of Itamar's yeshiva, said Asheri was a very introverted teenager, who had a tendency to go off on his own. For that reason, the family was not immediately suspicious of his disappearance, he said. Eliahu is the eldest of five children, and his parents have been living in Itamar since 1991. His father immigrated from Melbourne, Australia. An Australian diplomat based in Ramallah said the Australian embassy had approached the family, offered assistance and had been in contact with the Palestinian Authority, but had no details about Asheri, who does not hold Australian citizenship. Posted by: lotp 2006-06-29 |
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