AL-QUDS (Dispatches) – The Zionist regime’s war minister said Wednesday that the remains of a cancer-stricken Palestinian prisoner who died of medical negligence a day earlier would not be released for burial.
Benny Gantz’s office said the body of Nasser Abu Hamid, one of the founders of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade, would be held as a bargaining chip for the return of captive Zionists and the remains of soldiers held by the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Abu Hamid, 50, was a former leader of the armed wing of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah party. He had been serving multiple life sentences since 2002.
Palestinians marched and shuttered shops in the West Bank on Tuesday to protest his death.
The head of the political bureau of Palestinian resistance movement, Hamas, has denounced as “a crime against humanity” the death of Abu Hamid, saying the regime’s crime would not go unpunished.
Ismail Haniyeh made the remarks in a statement, after Nasser Abu Hamid was pronounced dead by the Palestinian Commission of Detainees’ and Ex-Detainees’ Affairs, the Palestinian Information Center reported.
The Hamas chief further expressed his sincere condolences over Abu Hamid’s death to his mother and detained brothers, reiterating the movement’s commitment to liberating all Palestinian prisoners from the regime’s jails and every inch of Palestine.
The 50-year-old Palestinian prisoner was wrestling with death as the occupying regime’s prison service (IPS) continued to deny him necessary medical care.
Palestinian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Riyad al-Maliki held the Zionist regime fully responsible for the death of Abu Hamid, saying his case will be represented to the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Maliki also accused the international community of failing to address Abu Hamid’s issue, saying he was not only a victim of the occupying regime’s oppression, but also a victim of world’s double standards.
He further called on the United Nations to put pressure on the occupying regime to hand over the body of the Palestinian prisoner to his family, so that they can hold a funeral ceremony as soon as possible.
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh also blamed the regime for Abu Hamid’s death, accused Tel Aviv of “deliberate medical negligence.”
Separately on Tuesday, Palestinian factions called for a general strike in the occupied West Bank, urging Palestinians to confront Zionist troops following Abu Hamid’s death.