Court sentences 2 for suicide bombs

JERUSALEM, Dec. 22 (JTA) — An Israeli court has sentenced two Hamas terrorists to consecutive, double-life sentences for their involvement in the Feb. 25 suicide bombings in Jerusalem and Ashkelon. A Hamas suicide bomber claimed 26 victims in the February bombing of the No. 18 bus near Jerusalem’s central bus station, an attack that wounded 48 others. Less than an hour later, a second Hamas bomb exploded at a soldiers’ hitchhiking station near Ashkelon, killing two, including the bomber, and injuring 31. The two Palestinians sentenced Sunday were convicted of driving the suicide-bombers to the attack sites. The two, Akram Ibrahim Kawasama and Imand Rassam, were residents of eastern Jerusalem’s Ras Al-Amud neighborhood, an army spokesman said.