Israel has arrested Jewish suspects in the abduction and killing of a Palestinian teen whose death touched off violent protests in Jerusalem and in Israeli Arab towns, a security source said on Sunday.
Six suspects were in custody, the source said, but added the number may change as the investigation into the killing of Mohammed Abu Khudair, 16, progressed.
"Apparently the people arrested in relation to the case belong to an extremist Jewish group," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to the French news agency AFP, shortly after the website of the Haaretz newspaper reported six arrests in connection with the case.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the quick apprehension of the suspects shows Israel will do everything to enforce the law.
“We will not allow extremists from any side to set the region on fire and to bring a new wave of bloodshed,” Netanyahu said.
Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said a gag order had been imposed on most details of the case, commenting only that police had "arrested a number of Jewish suspects who carried out the killing."
Israel's Shin Bet security agency said the suspects were being questioned at one of its installations.
"Nationalist motives"
Investigators believe Abu Khudair was slain out of “nationalist motives,” the source said, in comments that appeared to confirm Palestinian suspicions that far-right Jews were involved and that his death was a vengeance killing.
Abu Khudair's burnt body was discovered in a Jerusalem forest on Wednesday, a day after the burial of three Jewish teens who were abducted while hitchhiking in the occupied West Bank on June 12.
Their bodies were found on Monday, near the road where they had gone missing, and Israel blames Hamas militants for their kidnapping and killing. The Islamist group has neither confirmed nor denied involvement.
The kidnap and murder on Wednesday sparked four straight days of riots that began in annexed Arab east Jerusalem but on Saturday spread to more than half a dozen Arab towns in central and northern Israel.
The areas were largely quiet on Sunday, but police remained on high alert.
In east Jerusalem, home to the most violent protests over the teen's death, Abu Khudair's mother, Suha, welcomed news of the arrests but said she had little faith in the Israeli justice system, according to the Associated Press.
“I don't have any peace in my heart. Even if they captured who they say killed my son,” she said. “They're only going to ask them questions and then release them. What's the point?
“They need to treat them the way they treat us. They need to demolish their homes and round them up, the way they do it to our children,” she added.
Rocket attacks
Adding to the tensions, Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip have stepped up rocket attacks on southern Israel, drawing Israeli airstrikes in retaliation.
At midday Sunday, militants fired nine more rockets into Israel, the military said.
Israel said it carried out airstrikes on 10 sites in the Gaza Strip. The early morning operation targeted sites where the Israeli army says Palestinians have launched rockets into Israel.
Netanyahu signalled that broader Israeli action was not imminent.
In remarks to his cabinet on Sunday, Netanyahu pledged "to do whatever is necessary" to restore quiet to southern Israeli communities that have come under rocket attack from the Gaza Strip, where Hamas is the dominant force.
But he also cautioned against any rush toward wider confrontation with the group, whose arsenal includes long-range rockets that can reach Israel's heartland and its business capital, Tel Aviv.
"Experience has shown that during moments like these, one must act in a level-headed and responsible manner and not hastily," Netanyahu told his cabinet, in broadcast remarks.
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Tariq Khdeir, right, is greeted by his mother after being released from jail in Jerusalem, July 6, 2014.
American teen beaten
The parents of Mohammed Abu Khudair's American-born cousin said Israeli police badly beat their son before arresting him Thursday.
Tariq Abu Khudair, a U.S. citizen, was visiting family in East Jerusalem when he was apprehended Thursday in clashes with police.
On Saturday, a video circulated on the Internet showing two Israeli border policemen beating a suspect, whom the parents identified as Tariq.
His parents said they barley recognized their son's badly swollen face when they saw him in a hospital.
A Jerusalem court on Sunday fined Tariq about $900 and sentenced him to nine days of house arrest, pending an investigation.
Police say he was armed with a slingshot used to hurl stones at security forces and resisted arrest.
As he left court, Tariq said he is OK now but described how police hit him.
''They hit me in the face, they hit me, they brutally hit me, they put me unconscious. I could not do anything about it," Tariq said.
State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the U.S. was profoundly troubled by the alleged police beating and strongly condemns any excessive use of force.
Israel's Justice Ministry quickly launched a formal investigation.
Robert Berger contributed to this report from Jerusalem. Some information for this report was provided by Reuters, AP and AFP.
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