JERUSALEM, March 13 (UPI) -- Police said they gave the body of the militant who killed eight students to the man's family a week after his deadly assault on a yeshiva in Jerusalem.
The transfer of Alaa Abu Dheim's body was delayed out of concern that his funeral would become a demonstration, Ynetnews.com reported Thursday. He was buried Wednesday.
Dheim stormed the Mercaz Harav yeshiva and killed eight students before he was killed.
Leaflets were distributed Wednesday in Jerusalem by groups urging that Dheim's home be destroyed and his relatives expelled from their neighborhood, the news service reported.
Police said they had planned to return Dheim's body to the family at the beginning of the week after the two sides agreed the funeral wouldn't be covered by the media.
Political and legal authorities were debating whether to destroy Dheim's home as a deterrent. Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said he supported the demolition and Internal Security Minister Avi Dichter issued an order for its destruction. However, a former military prosecutor said the action may be legally difficult because of a 2005 military committee decision that the effectiveness of such destructions as a deterrent may have waned.
