Israeli occupation forces shot and injured a Palestinian youth in the town of Beit Ummar, near the occupied West Bank city of Al-Khalil (Hebron), the official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.
WAFA correspondent said that Israeli forces violently dispersed a rally demanding the release of Palestinians’ bodies withheld from burial. Israeli soldiers hit a participant with a round in the foot and caused dozens of others to suffocate from tear gas.
The rally participants demanded that Israel return the bodies of Palestinian prisoners who die in imprisonment and those who allegedly committed attacks, most notably veteran prisoner Nasser Abu Hamid, who died recently in Israeli custody.
Palestinian families say Israel's inhumane practice of withholding the bodies of their children is a form of collective punishment. Some corpses have been held back since 2016. Over 118 remain in Israeli morgues, while 253 are buried in unmarked graves https://t.co/fJSoRYCmea
— Elizabeth Murray (@elizabethmurra) December 28, 2022
According to official Palestinian sources, the Israeli occupation authorities have been withholding the bodies of 256 persons who are buried in the so-called ‘Cemeteries of Numbers’. Additionally, the bodies of 117 others are withheld in morgues and refrigerators.
Israeli authorities resumed the policy regarding the decision to withhold the bodies of the deceased in October 2015.
(WAFA, PC, SOCIAL)
