The Palestinian Authority on Saturday held funerals in Hebron for 5 Palestinians killed while carrying out attacks or attempted attacks on Israelis - Israel transferred the bodies of several Palestinian attackers to their families on Friday, in light of a previous government decision, which stated that terrorist bodies would not be returned to their families. The bodies include five from Hebron, as well as 16-year-old Muhammad Zakarnah, who pretended to be a candy salesman and attempted to stab guards at a checkpoint near Jenin last week The transfer of the five bodies took place Friday night at the Tarkumiyah crossing in Hebron, Ynet reported, where the Palestinian Authority held an official ceremony for their return. Thousands of Palestinians also arrived Friday night at the PA headquarters in Hebron for a state ceremony laid on for the occasion, Ynet said. The funerals for the five were to take place on Saturday, during which there was to be a second state ceremony. The bodies were to undergo autopsies on Friday night to determine the causes of death. Israel on Friday afternoon released the body of 16-year-old Muhammad Zakarna, from the Jenin area, who was killed while attempting to stab an Israeli security guard last weekend. The teen had posed as a candy seller and then attacked the guard at a checkpoint near Jenin, in the northern West Bank. He was shot and killed by security forces. On Friday evening, Israel also returned the remains of 22-year-old Muataz Atallah Qassem from Eizariya in East Jerusalem, who was shot dead by an IDF soldier after he stabbed and critically wounded a 20-year-old female soldier in the West Bank last week. The body was taken to a hospital in East Jerusalem, and from there Qassem was to be buried, Ynet said. Avigdor Liberman criticized the decision to return the bodies, calling it appeasement: "The return of the bodies in contravention of a cabinet decision is an unacceptable step aimed at appeasing terrorists, and is tantamount to a ransom payment for threats against Israel," the former foreign minister said. "Such a shameful surrender to Palestinian threats will not only fail to bring calm, but rather will merely lead to an increase in terror," he added. But a Palestinian official in Hebron said Friday that the return of some of the bodies was an Israeli step aimed at restoring calm in the city after a wave of daily violence. The official said that the rest of the bodies would be handed over only if quiet returned to Hebron and no more attackers set out from the area. Photos: The funerals in Hebron today; The Palestinian 'candy salesman' running to the checkpoint with a knife, just before he was shot to death (last picture)

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Counter to previous statements, Israel returned bodies of attackers to the Palestinians

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