A Palestinian teenager was convicted on Monday by an IDF military court of stabbing an Israeli soldier to death late last year on a public bus in northern Israel.

IDF recruit Eten Atias died in hospital aged 18 last November after the 16-year-old Palestinian boy, who could not be legally identified, attacked him as their bus entered the Afula central bus station.

Eyewitnesses described how the attacker, who comes from the West Bank city of Jenin, approached Mr Atias as he slept and repeatedly stabbed him in his neck and upper body, before he was subdued by fellow passengers and arrested.

Mr Atias had been en route to his military base, having been away on sick leave. He was still in basic training.

According to his court statement, the Palestinian convict attacked the IDF soldier to avenge his relatives, who are detained in Israeli prisons.