Israel returns wrong body to killed Palestinian teenager’s family | Israel-Palestine conflict News
20 Nov 2021 | Al Jazeera
▻https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/11/20/israel-returns-wrong-body-to-family-of-slain-palestinian-teenager
(...) Israel had planned to return the bodies of two Palestinians – Isra Khazimia and Amjad Abu Sultan – on “humanitarian grounds”. At the time of the alleged attacks, Khazimia was said to have had mental health issues while Abu Sultan was a minor.
But when they handed over the remains of Abu Sultan, his family informed the soldiers that it was the wrong body. The remains have not been publicly identified.
“Upon return of the body, it was revealed that the body was identified incorrectly. This unfortunate mistake is being reviewed by the relevant authorities,” the Israeli army said in a statement. It apologised for the mistake and said the correct remains would be returned to the family on Saturday.
The Palestinian Civil Affairs Committee, which coordinates day-to-day activities with Israel, said it was Abu Sultan’s family who noticed the body was not their son’s. The family could not immediately be reached for comment.
Abu Sultan, 14, was killed on October 14 in the occupied West Bank town of Beit Jala, near Bethlehem.
A witness said Israeli soldiers shot Abu Sultan, who was lighting a Molotov cocktail, without any warning or alert.
“Israeli forces routinely unlawfully kill Palestinian children with impunity, using excessive force and unjustified intentional lethal force,” said Ayed Abu Eqtaish, the accountability programme director at Defense for Children International-Palestine, following Abu Sultan’s death.(...)