Palestinian authorities to autopsy body of youth killed in Nakba protest

Palestine’s attorney general announced on Wednesday that the body of one two Palestinian youths killed on Nakba Day has been exhumed pending an autopsy.

Seventeen-year-old Nadim Nuwara was buried, along with 16-year old Muhammad Abu al-Thahir, a day after being shot during a protest on 15 May by a soldier apparently from the Israeli army.

The investigation will take place at the forensic science facility in Abu Dis at the family’s request. Israeli doctors will participate in the autopsy, according to Palestine News Network.

Israel has resisted calls to launch an international investigation into the killings, which Human Rights Watch has described as a "possible war crime".

Instead, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said the military would carry out an internal investigation in line with its own “moral code".

The father of one of the boys, Siam Nuwara, has announced that he plans to take the matter to an international court as well as to an Israeli body, “even though there is no hope of justice.”

Abbas 'accountable' for Gaza rocket attack

Tensions remain high on the ground, with political wrangling coming on the back a rocket attack from Gaza on Wednesday morning.

Israel held Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas directly responsible for the rocket attack, after the Israeli army spokesperson Peter Lerner reported an attack by “Gaza terrorists” on southern Israel early on Wednesday, leaving no casualties.

Benjamin Netanyahu’s spokesperson Ofir Gendelman published a Tweet holding Abbas “entirely responsible” for the rocket, which come after Abbas entered into a unity government with Hamas earlier this month.

Hours later,  Abbas condemned the attack in a statement released to Palestine’s state news agency WAFA.

He called on all sides to adhere to the ceasefire agreement signed in Cairo in 2012, “for the benefit of the Palestinian people”.

He said that commitment to the ceasefire would prevent giving Israel “any pretext for continuing its aggression towards Gaza.”

In response, Gendelman called Abbas' condemnation "empty rhetoric."

Meanwhile, John Kerry is facing dissent in Washington over his stance towards the new unity government.

Members of the Middle East subcommittee in the House of Representatives sent Kerry a letter on Monday, demanding he hold a special session to explain his decision to cautiously support the new government, which includes members of Hamas.

Hamas is designated as a “terrorist organisation” by the US, and delegates warned that the decision to co-operate with the government “could be extraordinarily counter-productive.”