[JURIST] An Israeli court on Monday found two Israeli minors guilty of murdering and kidnapping Mohammed Abu Khdeir, a Palestinian minor, in 2014 in Jerusalem. The minors, whose names were not mentioned in court proceedings [Al Jazeera report], will face sentencing in January and will be able to appeal their convictions. The minors allege that they were involved in the kidnapping but not the killing of Khdeir. Khedir’s murder led to violent riots and intensified violence in the Gaza Strip.

The Israel-Palestine conflict [HRW backgrounder] continues to be a significant international legal issue. In March the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs released [JURIST report] its 2014 Annual Humanitarian Overview, noting that Palestinian civilians continue to face daily threats to their physical safety and liberty, with 2014 holding the highest civilian death toll in the conflict since the annexation of the Palestinian territories in 1967. Also in March the UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights told the UN Human Rights Council that human rights violations “fuel and shape the conflict” [JURIST report] in the occupied Palestinian territories. Last November the UN Human Rights Council urged Israel to investigate [JURIST report] alleged violations committed by its forces during the recent conflict in Gaza. The 2014 conflict lasted from July 8 to August 26, resulting in more than 100,000 buildings damaged and nearly 2,200 deaths, with a high quantity of civilian casualties. Last year Human Rights Watch accused the Israeli military of committing war crimes [JURIST report] by attacking schools where hundreds of displaced Palestinians sought shelter.