Six Jewish extremists have been arrested in connection with the death of a Palestinian teenager who was burnt alive in a suspected revenge attack in East Jerusalem.

The men linked to the killing of 16-year-old Mohammed Abu Khdeir are believed to be members of a nationalist group, authorities in Israel said — reinforcing the Palestinian view that he was killed to avenge the deaths of three Israeli teenagers who were abducted in the West Bank on June 12.

The tensions surrounding the worst clashes in Jerusalem in years have been heightened by shocking footage of the arrest of the American citizen Tariq Khdeir, the 15-year-old cousin of the murdered Palestinian.

Israeli police were filmed holding him down and beating him after the teenager, from Tampa,