PA security forces fire tear gas at Hamas terrorist’s funeral in Nablus

NABLUS, West Bank — Palestinian security forces in the West Bank fire tear gas as mourners attending the funeral of a Hamas terrorist killed by Israeli forces chant slogans against the Palestinian Authority.

Hundreds march through the streets of the northern West Bank city of Nablus for the funeral of Hamas member Abdel Fattah Hussein Kharousha, 49, killed a day earlier along with five other Palestinians during intense fighting in an Israeli raid in Jenin.

The Israeli army says Kharousha was a terrorist operative who killed two Israeli brothers as they drove through the Palestinian town of Huwara on February 26.

Hamas’s armed wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, called him a “heroic martyr.”

As Palestinians carry the body of Kharousha through Nablus, some shout insulting slogans against the Palestinian security forces and other officials, calling them “prostitutes” and “spies” for Israel.

Palestinian officers fire tear gas and stun grenades, an AFP correspondent says, and the body is taken in an ambulance.

Palestinian security service spokesman Talal Dweikat says that officers had intervened when an arguments broke out after “a group unrelated to the martyr’s family kidnapped the body and lowered it to the ground,” Palestinian news agency Wafa reports.

“An altercation occurred while they were chanting against the [Palestinian] national authority and the security services, instead of cursing the [Israeli] occupation that committed crimes against our people,” Dweikat adds.

Meanwhile, in Jenin, crowds march through the streets during the funerals of the five other Palestinians killed yesterday, all men in their 20s. Masked gunmen are among the thousands of mourners.