Israel demolishes home of knife attacker's family

The family home of a Palestinian man who killed three Israelis in a knife attack near a settlement has been demolished, the Israeli army has reported.

Omar Alabed is alleged to have attacked the Israelis in their home in the fenced-off settlement of Neve Tsuf, north of Ramallah, last month.

Following the attack, the 19-year-old was shot and wounded by an off-duty soldier at the scene.

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu called him a "beast... incited to hate Jews".

Police said they will charge five members of Alabed's family for failing to stop him from carrying out the stabbing. The five were arrested and now face prosecution for failing to prevent a crime.

Under part three of the 1949 Geneva Conventions, collective punishment is a war crime.

Before launching his attack, Alabed took to Facebook, where he said gave some indication of what he was about to carry out.

"I am going there and I know I am not going to come back here, I will go to heaven. How sweet death is for the sake of God, his prophet and for al-Aqsa Mosque," he wrote, referring to the increased Israeli restrictions on Palestinians visiting Islam's third holiest site.

After the attack, Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman said that Alabed's home would be swiftly demolished, in line with Israeli policy. 

This policy has been criticised by rights groups as a means of collective punishment, in which the families of attackers are made to suffer the consequences of actions of which they often have no prior knowledge.

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