ISRAELI police arrested six suspects today over the death of Palestinian teenager Mohammed Abu Khdeir.

The arrests came a day after shocking autopsy results revealed the 16-year-old had been burned to death.

Palestinian attorney-general Abdelghani al-Owaiwi said a Palestinian doctor present at the autopsy in Tel Aviv had sent him the results.

“The results show he was breathing while on fire and died from burns and their consequences,” he said.

Mohammed had suffered burns on 90 per cent of his body and had breathed in flames as burns were found inside his lungs, bronchial tubes and throat.

Police refused to release the names of those arrested, though one source said two were well-known zionist militants and the force confirmed that the motive was deemed “nationalistic.”

This was treated as confirmation by many Palestinians that the killing was revenge for the murders of three Israeli teenagers in the West Bank. Mohammed was abducted in east Jerusalem hours after the funeral of the three, which prompted hundreds of right-wing Israelis to march through the city chanting “death to Arabs.”

News of the Palestinian's death sparked riots in which hundreds were injured. The teenager’s cousin, 15-year-old Tariq Abu Khdeir, was released from Israeli custody yesterday, sentenced to nine days’ house arrest for his part in the riots.

Tariq, who came home crying and badly bruised with swollen eyes and mouth, was beaten in custody by police according to his parents.

Israel’s President Shimon Peres said Mohammed’s killers would be “put to court like any killer.”

But the teen’s mother, Suha, said the arrests did not comfort her. “They’re only going to ask them questions and then release them. What’s the point?

“They need to treat them the way they treat us. They need to demolish their homes and round them up, the way they do to our children.”

Clashes between furious Palestinians and Israeli police spread to Israeli Arab towns over the weekend, with police saying 22 Israeli Arab citizens were arrested on Saturday alone.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has written to UN secretary-general Ban Ki Moon asking for an international investigation into recent violence.