Israel Hands Over Bodies of 91 Palestinians
Israel turned over to Palestinian officials the bodies of 91 terrorists.
The remains of 80 Palestinian terrorists, which had been buried in an Israeli military cemetery in the West Bank, were turned over to the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank on Thursday. Another 11 bodies were repatriated to Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Suicide bombers responsible for the deaths of more than 200 Israelis were among the bodies transferred.
Included among the repatriated bodies was Ramez Aslim, the suicide bomber who attacked the central Jerusalem Cafe Hillel in 2003. Dual Israeli-American citizens Dr. David Applebaum, head of the emergency room at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem, and his daughter Nava, who was to have been married the day after the bombing, were killed in that attack.
Dozens of reserve soldiers were called into service to exhume the bodies during the month of May, Ynet reported.
The repatriation of the bodies is being called a good-will gesture to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. It reportedly was agreed to during a meeting in Ramallah earlier this month between Abbas and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s personal envoy, Isaac Molcho.
The Almagor terror victims association on Wednesday slammed the government for the handover of bodies.
“The Netanyahu-Barak-Mofaz government is giving a boost to terror and abusing the bereaved families and the injured,” said Meir Indor, chairman of the association. “This is a government without a heart and without a brain.”
An official ceremony to honor the terrorists was scheduled to be held Thursday in the PA’s presidential compound in Ramallah, Palestinian Authority civil affairs minister Hussein al-Sheikh told the Palestinian Ma’an news service. A ceremony also reportedly will be held in Gaza.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
