By Abdelraouf Arnaout
JERUSALEM (AA) – Israel decided on Wednesday to withhold the body of a Palestinian detainee, who died while in custody a day earlier.
Naser Abu Hamid, 50, died at the Israeli Assaf Harofeh Hospital on Tuesday, with Palestinians blaming medical negligence for his death.
Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz decided not to release Abu Hamid’s body to his family for burial, the Israeli Army radio reported.
Rawhi Fattuh, head of the Palestinian National Council, decried the Israeli decision as “fascist”.
“This fascist decision shows the failure of the international community to pressure Israel to hand over the detainee’s body,” he added in a statement.
In detention since 2002, Abu Hamid, from Al-Amari camp in Ramallah, was sentenced to life by Israel for allegedly resisting the Israeli occupation and participating in founding the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, blacklisted by Israel.
The Palestinian detainee was rushed from his Ramla Prison on Monday to hospital where he breathed his last.
According to Palestinian NGOs, there are around 4,700 Palestinian detainees in Israeli jails, including at least 600 sick prisoners.
According to Palestinian figures, Israeli authorities have withheld the bodies of 117 Palestinians since 2015, in addition to 256 corpses, who were buried in covert stone graves with identification numbers.
* Writing by Ahmed Asmar