Zionist prosecutors on Wednesday called for life sentences for two young Jews convicted of burning alive a Palestinian teen, part of an upsurge in violence ahead of the 2014 Gaza war.

Zionist prosecutors on Wednesday called for life sentences for two young Jews convicted of burning alive a Palestinian teen, part of an upsurge in violence ahead of the 2014 Gaza war.

The request was made at a hearing in a Jerusalem court for the two, who were minors at the time of the chilling attack in which they and a third man snatched Mohammed Abu Khdeir, 16, from an east Jerusalem street and subsequently killed him.

Zionist settler Yosef Haim Ben-David, 31, is said to have led the attack on Abu Khdeir but his lawyers claimed he suffers from a mental illness and was not responsible for his actions at the time.

The court has found that he committed the crime but is yet to rule if he is mentally competent.

The two others were 16 when they were charged in 2014 but are now adults. They cannot be identified by court order.

The prosecutor said the attacks came against the backdrop of ideological hatred and called for life sentences.

The court is due to hand down its sentence on February 4, with the ruling on Ben-David's sanity expected two days earlier.