JERUSALEM — A Palestinian convicted of masterminding the kidnapping and killing of three Israeli teenagers, which sparked a chain of events that led to last summer’s Gaza war, was sentenced to life in prison by an Israeli court on Tuesday.
The military court handed Hussam Qawasmeh three life sentences, one for each teen. The 40-year-old resident of the West Bank town of Hebron admitted to masterminding the kidnapping and to receiving funds from Hamas, the Islamic militant group that rules Gaza, in order to commit attacks, the military said.
The two Palestinians Israel accused of killing the teenagers were shot dead in a firefight with Israeli forces in September.
Eyal Yifrah, 19, Gilad Shaar, 16, and Naftali Fraenkel, a 16-year-old with dual Israeli-American citizenship, were abducted and killed in June while hitchhiking home in the West Bank.