BETHLEHEM, Thousands of Palestinians Friday afternoon attended the funeral procession of a slain Palestinian teen in Hindaza village, southeast of Bethlehem.
Thousands of mourners attended the funeral procession of 16-year-old Amjad Oussama Abu Sultan, who was killed near a military checkpoint in Beit Jala on October 14.
The funeral procession set off from the Beit Jala Government Hospital, made a stop at his family house in Hindaza, before being buried in a local cemetery in the nearby village of Beit Ta’mir.
Mourners marched in the procession, raising Palestine flags and shouting slogans condemning the Israeli occupation as the remains of Abu Sultan, wrapped with Palestine flag, were carried away.
The burial was made possible after the occupation authorities successfully released the remains of Abu Sultan on November 20.
Abu Sultan was gunned down by Israeli forces after he allegedly lit a Molotov cocktail in Beit Jala, west of Bethlehem near Route 60, a main north-to-south route in the occupied West Bank, according to information gathered by Defense for Children International – Palestine (DCIP).
DCIP maintained that Israeli forces fired the bullets without any warning or alert before shooting him and slammed the killing as “unlawful”.
“Israeli forces routinely unlawfully kill Palestinian children with impunity, using excessive force and unjustified intentional lethal force,” said Ayed Abu Eqtaish, accountability program director at DCIP. “If a child is suspected of committing a criminal act, they should be apprehended in accordance with international standards and afforded due process of law.”
“Israeli authorities’ practice of confiscating and withholding Palestinian bodies is a violation of international humanitarian law and international human rights law, which include absolute prohibitions on cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment, as well as stipulate that parties of an armed conflict must bury the deceased in an honorable way. For families, the practice amounts to collective punishment in violation of international humanitarian law,” it added.
Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency