Israeli forces on Tuesday brutally quelled a march demanding the release of Palestinian bodies withheld from burial, injuring 11 participants, the official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said that their medics provided treatment to a person attending the march who was injured by an explosive round shot by Israeli soldiers. Eight others suffocated from excessive tear gas inhalation.
PRCS added that their medics also treated two others for burns due to tear gas canisters that directly struck them.
Israeli soldiers forcefully dispersed the rally, which took off from al-Amari refugee camp and headed south towards the Israeli military checkpoint of Qalandiya.
Raja’ sat quietly in her living room, staring at her son’s picture on the wall. But now, she only has painful memories, knowing his body is detained by Israeli occupation forces in an Israeli morgue.https://t.co/iJSgUYCCm3 via @PalestineChron pic.twitter.com/h7Sqj2EwRC
— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) December 27, 2022
The participants demanded that Israel return the bodies of Palestinian prisoners who die in prison and those who allegedly committed attacks, most notably veteran prisoner Nasser Abu Hamid, who recently died in Israeli custody.
According to the National Campaign to Retrieve the Bodies of those Slain by Israeli forces and Unravel the Fate of Those Missing, the Israeli occupation authorities have been withholding the bodies of 256 persons who are buried in the so-called ‘Cemeteries of Numbers’ in addition to the bodies of 117 others who are withheld in morgues and refrigerators.
انطلاقاً من مخيم الأمعري وصولاً إلى حاجز قلنديا شمال القدس هتفوا مرددين بحقهم في توديع أبنائهم ودفنهم.. مسيرة مطالبة باسترداد جثامين الشهداء المحتجزة لدى الاحتلال pic.twitter.com/XLbo4yrJH1
— AlQastal القسطل (@AlQastalps) December 27, 2022
Among those whose bodies are still withheld, there are five women and 11 prisoners, including Abu Hamid.
The Campaign has documented the cases of 68 persons who went missing since the onset of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in June 1967.
