Al Mezan Center for Human Rights said that the Israeli authorities continues to withhold the bodies of 7 Palestinians who died in Israeli jails, while refusing to release the bodies and hand them over to their families. Israel uses this policy of withholding the bodies of slain or detained Palestinians as a bargaining chip for political goals. The decision by the Israeli Supreme Court stated that the military commander has the authority to detain the bodies of slain Palestinians and bury them temporarily for the purposes of using them as a negotiating/bargaining tool in the future. The Center pointed out that the lives of Palestinian detainees inside Israeli prisons are at risk, in light of medical negligence, inadequate preventive measures against diseases, especially Covid-19, which threatens their right to life. Al Mezan Center called on the international community, and the signatory parties to the Geneva Conventions, to assume their legal and moral responsibilities towards the residents of the occupied Palestinian territories, and to put pressure on the Israeli authorities to release the detained bodies, end their families’ suffering and enable them to bury them in a proper manner according to their cultural and religious teachings. For further details, click here