Israeli teenager Tiran Fero, who was kidnapped by Palestinian gunmen in Jenin after sustaining severe wounds in a car accident on Nov. 22, 2022. Photo via Facebook/Israeli MFA

A Israeli teenager who was kidnapped by Palestinian gunmen in Jenin was laid to rest among thousands of mourners in northern Israel on Thursday, the day that would have been his 18th birthday.

Tiran Fero, a member of Israel’s Druze minority who lived in the town of Dalit al-Carmel, was severely injured on Tuesday in a car accident near the Palestinian city of Jenin in the West Bank and transported to a local hospital to receive emergency care.

While there, the hospital was stormed by Palestinian gunmen — some 20 or 30 of them, according to the testimony of Fero’s uncle — who came to abduct the Israeli youth. Although initial comments from the Israeli military and the governor of Jenin indicated that Fero was dead when he was kidnapped, this was disputed by his father, Husam Faro, who was standing outside the room when the incident took place.

“My son was still alive, they kidnapped him before my eyes,” Husam insisted in an interview with Israeli media. “He was still alive. When I saw him, he was breathing. They disconnected him from the machines and took him.”

He added that the militants may have believed that Tiran, who was still in high school, was a soldier. “I never saw anything like this in my life. It’s a horror, something inhuman,” he said. “I couldn’t do anything.”

Fero’s kidnapping caused sparked protests among members of the Druze community, who sought his speedy release. His body was transferred on Thursday morning to his family for burial, following efforts by Israel’s security establishment, in cooperation with Palestinian security services and authorities, the military said.

“How sad that on his birthday we accompany him to to his final resting place, instead of celebrating his big dreams,” said Tiran’s uncle Eddie Fero in his eulogy, Channel 13 reported. “After the tensions subsided, we are now starting to process this disaster. I wish for our entire family to survive this disaster and this grief in a good way.”

“We are a peaceful faith community,” Eddie added. “Let’s return to a quiet life.”

“Instead of escorting him to his wedding,” said Rafik Halabi, head of the the Dalit al-Carmel local council, “we wrapped him in shrouds.”

Fero’s kidnapping came amid a resurgence in terrorist attacks within Israel and the West Bank. On Wednesday, a 16-year-old Canadian-Israeli yeshiva student was killed and multiple others injured during twin bombings in Jerusalem.