In another display of colonial savagery, the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) murdered Sunday a Palestinian worker at the separation wall in Qalqilya.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health reported that the martyr Nabil Ghanem, 53 years old from the village of Surra, Nablus, was killed by the IOF while heading to his work at the entrance to Jaljulia village.

It is worth noting that local media reported that the body of Ghanem is still being held by the IOF at Meir Medical hospital inside the occupied territories.

Read more: “It Is Fun to Shoot Palestinians”: Six Former Israeli Soldiers Speak Up

Withheld bodies: "Israel's" brutality at its most

The practice of Israeli occupation confiscating and withholding Palestinian bodies violates international humanitarian law and international human rights law, which include 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.

See more: Cemeteries of numbers: Where “Israel” keeps the murdered Palestinians

Adding salt to injury, the occupation imposes one of the most serious restrictions by obstructing any autopsy of the remains. 

Furthermore, the Israeli occupation 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. 

"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

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 killed by Israeli occupation forces.

At the beginning of this month, social media users and activists launched a campaign to recover the bodies of Palestinians killed by Israeli occupation forces.

“Israel” has 103 Palestinians' bodies in refrigerators, and another 256 have already been buried without allowing families to perform their last rites, according to the Palestinian Prisoners Club.

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.

Read more: Palestinian families in search of their sons' uncertain fate