Jerusalem/PNN/
Israeli occupation forces “IOF” quelled a march demanding the release of Palestinians’ bodies withheld from burial at Qalandiya checkpoint, north of Jerusalem, injuring 11 Palestinians, according to medical sources.
Hundreds of Palestinians started a march at Amari refugee camp heading to Qalandia checkpoint, south of Ramallah, demanding Israel releases bodies of Palestinians killed and withheld by its forces, was crushed as soon as it arrived at the checkpoint.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said that their medics provided treatment to a person attending the march who was injured by an explosive round shot by Israeli soldiers in the foot as well as to eight others who suffocated from excessive tear gas inhalation.
PRCS added that their medics also treated two others for burns due to a tear gas canisters that directly struck them.
Several hundred Palestinians heeded calls to gather at Amari refugee camp, home of Nasser Abu Hmaid who died while incarcerated in Israeli prisons last week following a year-long battle against cancer but whose body was kept by the army, and then marched to the Israeli army-manned checkpoint between Ramallah and Jerusalem in order to demand the return of the body of Abu Hmaid and dozens of other Palestinians withheld by Israel for several months and years.
Israel is the only country that punishes the dead: the Palestinians are demonstrating to demand the burial of their children
The rally participants demanded that Israel return the bodies of Palestinian prisoners who die in imprisonment and those who allegedly committed attacks, most notably veteran prisoner Nasser Abu Hmaid, who died recently in custody.
However, as soon as the march arrived at the Qalandia checkpoint, the Israeli soldiers showered it with tear gas canisters causing suffocation cases and disrupting traffic through the checkpoint.
Palestinians have been holding protests throughout the West Bank demanding that Israel releases the withheld bodies so that their families can bid them farewell and bury them in proper cemeteries.
Abu Hmaid, 50, died on the morning of Tuesday, December 20, at the Assaf Harofeh Israeli hospital near Tel Aviv despite longstanding calls to release him due to the Israeli policy of deliberate medical negligence and slow killing following his late diagnosis with cancer more than a year ago.
According to the National Campaign to Retrieve the Bodies of those Slain by Israeli forces and Unravel the Fate of Those Missing, the Israeli occupation authorities have been withholding the bodies of 256 persons who are buried in the so-called ‘Cemeteries of Numbers’ in addition to the bodies of 117 others who are withheld in morgues and refrigerators since the authorities resumed the policy regarding the decision to withhold the bodies of the deceased in October 2015.
Among those whose bodies are still withheld, there are five women and 11 prisoners, including Abu Hmaid.
The Campaign has documented the cases of 68 persons who went missing since the onset of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in June 1967.
