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Israel holds bodies of 80% of Palestinians killed during operations

Monday, 27 December 2021 6:09 PM [ Last Update: Monday, 27 December 2021 6:09 PM ]

Mona Kandil
Press TV, Ramallah

Israel is currently holding the bodies of at least 91 Palestinians who were killed over alleged operations in the occupied territories.

The Israeli Ministry of Military Affairs said that 80% of the bodies of those Palestinians remained in Israel's hands.

The ministry made the announcement in response to an inquiry by the Israel Hayom newspaper on the issue, saying it will not return the bodies to their families for burial.

Palestinians and human rights organizations have slammed the Israeli policy and the current decision as immoral, calling Israel a terrorist entity which aims to add to the suffering of Palestinians.

Experts say that Israel is also holding the bodies of Palestinians as bargaining chips for future negotiations with the resistance groups mainly Hamas movement that is holding two Israelis and the bodies of two soldiers, possibly in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.

In 2019, when Israel’ PM Naftali Bennett was in charge of the military affairs, took a decision that the bodies of all slain Palestinians to be withheld, regardless of the organization the victim was affiliated with, or the type of attack they carried out or tried to launch.

At the end of the day Tel Aviv claims the measure is meant to deter other Palestinians from carrying out operations against Israelis.

Tel Aviv refuses to hand over the bodies of Palestinians killed for alleged attacks on Israelis and uses it as a punitive measure against their families. At the same time, Palestinians say, the Israeli forces continue to deliberately kill people in the occupied territories for the same reason or on mere suspicion, and hold their bodies captive.

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