‘Israel’ hands over body of Palestinian martyr killed by IOF while heading to workplace

Occupied Palestine (QNN)- The Israeli occupation authorities on Thursday handed over the body of Palestinian martyr Nabil Ghanem who was shot dead by Israeli gunfire while heading to his workplace few days ago.

On June 19, Nabil Ghanem, a resident of Nablus, was shot dead by Israeli forces while he was heading to his workplace inside the 1948-occupied territories. He was killed near the apaetheid wall, south of the occupied West Bank city of Qalqilia.

The body of the 53-year-old slain worker was handed over to the Red Crescent yesterday at Huwwara checkpoint, south of Nablus, before it was handed over to his family for burial.

Watch | Palestinians take part in the funeral procession of Palestinian youth Nabil Ghanim who was shot dead by the Israeli occupation forces near Qalqilya few days ago. pic.twitter.com/WeqgkefNUw

— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) June 23, 2022

For families, Israel’s practice of withholding their sons’ bodies amounts to collective punishment in violation of international humanitarian law.

Since 1967, ‘Israel’ had also established cemeteries of numbers in closed military zones where it held the bodies of Palestinians and Arabs who were killed during the war or the struggle against the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, eastern part of Jerusalem and Gaza Strip.

Israel is still withholding the bodies of 104 Palestinian martyrs killed by its forces since 2015, including the bodies of nine detainees, according to the Palestinian Commission of Detainees.

Al-Haq, a Palestinian human rights group, says “the withholding of Palestinian bodies is a standard practice long used by Israel which violates its obligations as an Occupying Power under international law. Customary international humanitarian law stipulates that parties to an armed conflict must respect the dead who “must be disposed of in a respectful manner.” It further obliges parties to the conflict to return the remains and personal effects of the dead to their families. In addition, Article 17 of the Second Geneva Convention requires that the deceased must be held in accordance with the religious rites that they belong to.”