JERUSALEM, Dec. 9 (JTA) — Israel’s High Court of Justice has cleared the way for the army to demolish or seal the homes of the families of five Hamas suicide bombers. In its ruling Tuesday, the court rejected a challenge from some of the families regarding the veracity of genetic tests that linked them to the men who carried out two attacks in Jerusalem, killing 21 and wounding some 360. Two suicide bombers struck in the Mahane Yehuda open-air market on July 30, and three hit the Ben Yehuda pedestrian mall on Sept. 4. In also rejecting other petitions from the families, who live in villages near the West Bank town of Nablus, the court said that they had provided food and shelter to the terrorists for a prolonged period of time before they carried out the attacks. The lawyer for the families denied the allegations, saying that if they were true, then the family members should be charged as alleged accomplices and not be subjected to collective punishment without a trial.
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