Israel gives Palestinians bodies of 2 Hamas terrorists

JERUSALEM, Jan. 29 (JTA) — Israel has handed over to the Palestinians the bodies of two Hamas terrorists. Salakh Jedalla and Hassan Abbas were killed while attacking Israelis in separate incidents in October 1994. Israel Defense Force soldiers transferred the wooden coffins on Wednesday from army vehicles to Palestinian ambulances waiting at the Israel-Gaza border. Jedalla, who was among a group of Hamas terrorists who kidnapped and murdered Israeli soldier Nachshon Wachsman, had been killed by Israeli soldiers in a failed rescue attempt. Abbas, with an accomplice, had opened fire in a pedestrian mall in downtown Jerusalem, killing two and wounding 13. He was shot dead by police and armed civilians. The IDF reportedly had made a deal with the Palestinian Authority to hand over the bodies in exchange for information that enabled them last year to find the body of Ilan Sa’adon, an Israeli soldier who was kidnapped and murdered by Hamas terrorists in 1989. The IDF denied that a deal was made, saying only that it had decided to return the bodies after Sa’adon’s body was recovered.