Jewish victims of Paris attack to be laid to rest in Israel

The bodies of four Jewish victims of an attack on a kosher supermarket in Paris arrived in Jerusalem for burial on Tuesday morning.

Yoav Hattab, Philippe Braham, Yohan Cohen and Francois-Michel Saada were killed during a hostage taking at the supermarket on Thursday. They were among 17 people gunned down in Paris during attacks, which also included shootings at the office of satire magazine Charlie Hebdo, in which 12 people were killed.

Black banners were hung around the city on Monday reading the words "Jerusalem est Charlie" in a show of solidarity with those killed in the attacks.

Israeli President Reuven Rivlin, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, French Environment Minister Segolene Royal and other dignitaries are scheduled to attend the funeral.

Three-day siege in France

Gunmen stormed the offices of French magazine Charlie Hebdo on Wednesday, shooting those inside and leaving at least 12 people dead, among them the famous French cartoonists Jean Cabut, Stephane Charbonnier (also known as Charb, the magazine's editor-in-chief), Georges Wolinski and Bernard Verlhac (who worked under the pseudonym Tignous).

A two-day crisis ensued, with police engaging in a manhunt. Islamist Amedy Coulibaly - who had ties to the gunmen who attacked Charlie Hebdo - stormed into the kosher supermarket in the east of Paris on Thursday, taking hostages, 15 of whom ended up being freed by police. Coulibaly's common-law wife Hayat Boumeddiene is currently a main suspect in the shootings and is believed to have entered into Syria through Turkey a few days ago.

Netanyahu opens arms

In the aftermath of the attacks, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to allow the four to be buried in Jerusalem. He spoke out to French Jews, saying they could relocate to Israel, which was their "home."

"To all the Jews of France, all the Jews of Europe, I would like to say that Israel is not just the place towards which you pray, the state of Israel is your home."

In response to the attacks, and with heightened security, France deployed around 5,000 police and security forces to protect France's 700 Jewish schools and security at Jewish institutions.

"France without its Jews is not France," French Prime Minister Manuel Valls, said. "Today, we are Charlie, all police officers, all the Jews of France," he said in reference to the "je suis Charlie" solidarity movement which has swept the globe.

sb/kms (dpa, AFP)