The Israeli occupation army handed over to the Palestinian side the body of a Palestinian martyr it had killed more than a year ago.
The body of the 27-year-old girl, Mai Afana, was received by the Palestinian Civil Affairs Authority and the Palestinian Red Crescent staff and her family at the Israeli military "Al-Za'im" checkpoint, east of Jerusalem.
As soon as the body of the martyr Afaneh arrived at her family's home in the town of Abu Dis, a farewell look was cast upon it. Hundreds of Palestinians participated in the funeral ceremony of the body to the Abu Dis cemetery, raising the Palestinian flag and the flags of the Palestinian factions, in conjunction with the shooting in the air by masked Palestinians.
The General Authority for Civil Affairs - which is the official liaison with Israel - announced yesterday, Monday, that the Israeli side decided to hand over the body of the martyr.
It is noteworthy that the occupation army shot the Palestinian woman at the "Hizma" checkpoint, east of Jerusalem, on June 16, 2021, for allegedly trying to trample and stab soldiers, which her family denies.
Afana, who is the mother of a 6-year-old girl, was preparing for her doctorate in the field of mental health at a Jordanian university at the time of her attack.
With the release of Afana's body, the coordinator of the national campaign to retrieve the bodies of the martyrs, Hussein Shejaiya, said that the Israeli army continues to hold the bodies of 102 martyrs killed since 2015, explaining that among the detained bodies are the bodies of two Palestinian martyrs.
In 2019, the Israeli Supreme Court approved the detention of the bodies of Palestinian martyrs to be used as a bargaining chip in the future for the purpose of exchanging them with Israeli prisoners who have been held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip since 2014, when the movement is holding 4 Israeli soldiers in Gaza.