Militant in Israel Raid Gets 12-Year Sentence

Palestinian officials said a security court had handed a 12-year prison sentence to Mahmoud abu Hunoud, a Hamas militant who was wounded in a West Bank shootout in which three Israeli soldiers died and a fourth was injured. Abu Hunoud was sentenced for “forming military cells and affording them weapons and ammunition,� said Palestinian Atty. Gen. Khalid Qidra. Abu Hunoud escaped the Israeli raid last Saturday in the village of Assira Shamaliya and later surrendered to Palestinian officials. An Israeli army inquiry has concluded that all four troop casualties were due to “friendly fire.�