Israel Hands over Lebanese Boy to UNIFIL

Israeli troops handed a deaf nine-year-old Lebanese boy over to the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon a day after entering Israel, the National News Agency reported on Friday.

NNA said that Mohammed Hassan Fadl Jawad, who crossed into Israel on Thursday afternoon, was handed over through the Naqoura crossing to UNIFIL, which transferred him to the Lebanese army.

The boy, who also suffers from mental problems, was then taken to his family home in Aita al-Shaab, NNA said.

The nine-year-old was arrested by Israeli troops after crossing the barbed wire in the nearby border town of Rmeish, it added.

UNIFIL official spokesman Andrea Tenenti said in a statement later on Friday that the Israeli troops informed the international force on Thursday of their sighting of the child near a landmine field near the border fence at Aita al-Shaab before taking him to safety.

At the same time, the family of the boy had approached a UNIFIL patrol to request its assistance in locating him, he continued.

UNIFIL then informed the Lebanese and Israeli armies of the development and asked for their aid.

The Israeli army then handed over Jawad to UNIFIL and it in turn delivered the boy to the Lebanese authorities, said Tenenti.