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The Israeli occupation handed over on Thursday evening the body of Palestinian martyr Ammar Mufleh after withholding it for 27 days, the Palestinian Red Crescent confirmed.

In a statement, the Red Crescent said its crews received the body of Mufleh, 22, who was killed by Israeli occupation gunfire on December 2, in a cold-blooded field execution crime carried out by an occupation soldier in the town of Hawara, south of Nablus.

Palestinians receive the dead body of slain Ammar Mofleh who was executed by an lsraeli occupation soldier at point-blank range a month ago in Huwara, south of Nablus. pic.twitter.com/92IjNivWWT

— TIMES OF GAZA (@Timesofgaza) December 29, 2022

The Palestinian General Authority for Civil Affairs also confirmed that Mufleh's family received the martyr's body.

According to WAFA news agency, the Palestinian Red Crescent crews transferred Mufleh's body to Rafidia Hospital in Nablus, in preparation for its funeral in a military ceremony on Friday.

Media coverage: The mother of slain Palestinian youth Ammar Mufleh bids a sad farewell to her son 💔

Mufleh was killed a month ago by an Israeli soldier at point-blank range in Nablus. His body was handed over to his family last night after being withheld by 'Israel' since then. pic.twitter.com/PD6JXKf1A2

— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) December 30, 2022

Withheld bodies: Israeli brutality at its most

The practice of Israeli occupation confiscating and withholding Palestinian bodies violates international humanitarian law and international human rights law, which stipulate absolute prohibitions on cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment and require parties to bury the deceased in an honorable manner. For Palestinian families, the practice amounts to collective punishment, which is also prohibited by international humanitarian law.

The Israeli occupation imposes one of the most serious restrictions by obstructing any autopsy of the remains. Furthermore, it holds Palestinian bodies in freezing conditions for months, denigrating their condition and making it more difficult for medical examiners to investigate the causes of death.

As a consequence, it becomes extremely difficult to conduct evidence-based investigations into unlawful killings and excessive use of force against Palestinians, most notably children.

According to the Palestinian Prisoners Club, "Israel" has more than 100 Palestinians' bodies in refrigerators, and more than 250 have already been buried without allowing families to perform their last rites.

"Israel" withholds the bodies of the martyrs as a part of its policy to avoid autopsies that would expose the IOF's heinous crimes. #Palestine pic.twitter.com/uL9QzG41UF

— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) June 16, 2022

In 2019, the Israeli occupation Court approved the detention of the bodies of Palestinians killed by IOF to be used as a bargaining chip in the future, a move Palestinians and rights groups condemned as inhumane.

"Israel’s" biomedical abuse and plunder of Palestinian bodies, most notably children, for usable organs and tissues is a widespread and highly contentious practice that persists to this day.

The longtime head of the Israeli "National" Institute of Forensic Medicine at Abu Kabir, Yehuda Hiss, casually admitted in one of his interviews to harvesting eyes, skin, bone, solid organs, and other parts without consent from the bodies of Palestinians withheld by the Israeli occupation forces.

In early July, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh accused "Israel" of using "martyrs' bodies" kept in medical laboratories in Israeli universities, calling on international universities to boycott the Israeli universities involved in seizing the bodies.