Palestinian bodies of those killed by Israeli forces will not be returned, announced Gilad Erdan, Israeli Minister of Public Security.

Luba al-Samri, an Israeli police spokeswoman reported on Tuesday that Erdan watched footage of the funeral of Alaa Abu Jamal in occupied East Jerusalem, which caused his “anger, disapproval and condemnation.”

Abu Jamal, 22, was killed by Israeli police on October. His body was released for burial after more than seven months on Tuesday. His family was required to pay a 40,000 shekel ($10,353.30) deposit and only 40 people attend the funeral.

However, Abu Jaml’s body was held back for almost two hours due to the large number of people around the cemetery, despite heavy deployment of Israeli security forces.

Palestinian bystanders chanted “God is great,” and “with our souls, with our blood, we sacrifice ourselves for you, martyr.”

Erdan accused the crowd of “incitement,” calling the scene “inadmissible by all standards and measurements everywhere, the more so in the capital Jerusalem.”

Israel currently holds the bodies of at least a dozen Palestinians killed by Israeli forces since October.

Although Addameer and the Israeli minority rights group, Adalah, condemned Israel’s practice of withholding bodies as “a severe violation of international humanitarian law as well as international human rights law, including violations of the right to dignity, freedom of religion, and the right to practice culture,” Israel continues with this practice.

(PC, MA’AN)