WEST BANK (Dispatches) – Zionist troops have returned the remains of a Palestinian teenager who was martyred in October in the occupied West Bank, only to be told by the family that it was the body of someone else.
The macabre mix-up was likely to draw attention to the Zionist regime’s policy of holding the remains of martyred Palestinians, which human rights groups say amounts to collective punishment of the bereaved families.
The Zionist regime had planned to return the bodies of two Palestinians – Isra Khazimia and Amjad Abu Sultan. At the time of the alleged attacks, Khazimia was said to have had mental health issues while Abu Sultan was a minor.
But when they handed over the remains of Abu Sultan, his family informed the troops that it was the wrong body. The remains have not been publicly identified.
The Palestinian Civil Affairs Committee, which coordinates day-to-day activities with the Zionist regime, said it was Abu Sultan’s family who noticed the body was not their son’s. The family could not immediately be reached for comment.
Abu Sultan, 14, was killed on October 14 in the occupied West Bank town of Beit Jala, near Bethlehem.
A witness said Zionist troops shot Abu Sultan without any warning or alert.
“Israeli forces routinely unlawfully kill Palestinian children with impunity, using excessive force and unjustified intentional lethal force,” said Ayed Abu Eqtaish, the accountability program director at Defense for Children International-Palestine, following Abu Sultan’s death.
Zionist troops shot and killed Khazimia, a mother of four, in September, when she allegedly tried to stab an officer in Al-Quds’ Old City. Her remains were returned at Salem checkpoint near the northern West Bank city of Jenin.
Meanwhile, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Friday demanded accountability for extrajudicial executions and crimes committed against Palestinians by the Zionist regime.
The OIC said in a statement that the regime’s police shot and killed a 16-year-old Palestinian named Omar Abu Asab on November 17 in occupied East Al-Quds after accusing him of a stabbing attempt, Anadolu news agency reported.
Underlining that increased Zionist violence and attacks against Palestinians posed the risk of escalating tensions in the region, the OIC strongly condemned the regime’s crimes against Palestinians.
The statement also pointed out that Sami Umour, a Palestinian inmate in an Israeli jail, died as a result of medical negligence and inhumane treatment of Palestinian prisoners.
It said the Zionist regime should be held accountable for these crimes, calling on the UN and other relevant international bodies to form committees and investigate the deaths of both individuals.