Israel Returns Bodies Of Attackers, But Palestinians Suspect Foul Play

Palestinian medical sources in Hebron said 17 bodies to be buried in the area had already been received. The raids triggered multiple stabbings and attacks, killing 20 Israelis and more than 100 Palestinians.

The army says 23 bodies were handed over on Friday.

While violence is a part of everyday life in the embattled region, tensions in West Bank escalated previous year in September after Israeli incursions into Al-Aqsa mosque.

A larger majority, 71 percent, said they felt the government had not dealt sufficiently with a new wave of violence between Israelis and Palestinians that began in October. Most of the others have been killed in clashes with security forces.

Israel has been holding dozens of attackers’ bodies, a policy that has been criticised by rights groups.

“Israel freezes the bodies of the Palestinian martyrs in mortuaries held at -35 degrees which prevents autopsy for 24 to 48 hours”, Sabir al-Aloul, the head of al-Quds University’s Institute for Forensic Medicine.

Aribe, a relative of senior Palestinian Authority official Saeb Erekat, was killed in early December while carrying out a shooting attack near Jerusalem.

“The IDF returned bodies of eight Palestinian assailants who attacked Israeli civilians and security forces in the past months”, an army spokeswoman said.

Ides, from the West Bank city of Hebron, was shot and killed last week while trying to stab soldiers near a checkpoint with a screwdriver.

Palestinian sources said the Israelis were still holding a total of 17 bodies.

By the end of next year, the combined number of Palestinians in Israel and the West Bank will equal the total number of Jews living in the West Bank and Israel proper, Ha’aretz reported.