Israel holds 370 bodies of Palestinian martyrs as bargaining chip

Published December 24th, 2022 - 09:01 GMT
Israeli troops
Israeli borderguards advance with riot shields amidst clashes with Palestinian youths following a protest against the death of Palestinian prisoner Nasser Abu Hamed in Israeli prison in city centre of the flashpoint city of Hebron in the occupied West Bank on December 20, 2022. A senior Fatah figure, Nasser Abu Hamid, died from cancer on December 20 while in Israeli custody. He was serving a life sentence in an Israeli prison for his participation in deadly attacks during the second intifada. (Photo by HAZEM BADER / AFP)

ALBAWABA - Israel holds more than 370 bodies of Palestinians who died in their custody according to Abdel Nasser Al Farawna, head of the Studies and Documentation Unit in the Palestinian Authority for Detainees and Ex-Prisoners Affairs. 

He told Petra these bodies are being held in Israeli morgues and fridges and will not be released any time soon.

His comments are trending on the social media and are being picked by many news websites. They are currently trending in Arabic under different hashtags like (#فلسطين_قضية_الشرفاء #الأقصى_في_خطر #القدس).

Al Farawna told the Jordan news agency, Saturday, the detained bodies of Palestinian male and female martyrs, have been kept over a number of years by the Israeli authorities in their morgues. He added that 11 of these bodies belong to Palestinian prisoners who died inside Israeli jails. 

He described this continuing Israeli practice as a heinous crime, adding the occupation state uses these bodies for pressure, extortion and bargaining, pointing out Israel and has used this as a matter of policy over many decades.