The Israeli occupation authorities today released the body of Mai Afana who was killed by Israeli occupation forces in Jerusalem in June of last year.
After her family received her body, large crowds participated in the funeral and burial of Afana in her hometown, Abu Dis, east of occupied Jerusalem.
In another form of collective punishment and also to use them as a bargaining chip in any deal with the Palestinians, the Israeli occupation authorities have a long-standing policy of refusing to release the bodies of Palestinians who have been killed by its forces for burial by their families. Some of the bodies have been held for years.
International human rights groups have repeatedly condemned Israel’s policy of withholding the bodies of Palestinians who are killed by Israeli gunfire.
B’Tselem, an Israeli human rights group, considered this policy a violation of human dignity, adding that the policy is not only morally wrong but also undervalues Palestinians and their families.
Withholding bodies of dead Palestinians and not returning them to their families for proper burial is a cruel practice and a violation of international humanitarian law and United Nations Convention against Torture, said the Haifa-based Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel.
Source: Palestine News & Info Agency