Ramallah -

Mutassim Muhammad Talib Atallah was not yet eighteen when the occupation soldiers shot and killed him, then detained his body until today.

That was on May 8, in the vicinity of the "Tkoa" settlement, which was built on the lands of the town of Tekoa, southeast of Bethlehem, in the south of the West Bank.

Muhammad Talib, Mutassim's father, told Al Jazeera Net that his son was a child when he was killed in cold blood. "He was less than 18 years old, and his body is still being held."

The father participates in most of the events held to demand the recovery of the bodies of the martyrs, and says that the family's life was turned upside down after his martyrdom.

From an event to demand the handover of the bodies of the martyrs in Ramallah (Al-Jazeera Net)

Crimes provoked him

The martyr's father continues, saying, "Mutassim is a child who was provoked by the news and the crimes of the occupation in Jerusalem, so his punishment was the killing of bullets and the arrest of the body," noting that he was summoned to inspect the body of his son, and later informed that the body was being kept in refrigerators.

And he added, "It is my right and the right of the mother of the martyr to take a farewell look at him, and it is our right to bury him according to the teachings of Islamic law, know his grave and visit him whenever we want."

Mutassim is one of 11 Palestinian children, no more than 18 years old, whom the Israeli army announced killing, and is likely holding their bodies in refrigerators, according to the national campaign to retrieve the bodies of the martyrs.

On August 27 of each year, the Palestinians celebrate the "National Day for the Retrieval of the Retained Bodies of the Martyrs, and the Disclosure of the Fate of the Missing", which was approved by the Palestinian government in 2008.

In 2019, the Israeli Supreme Court decided to hold the bodies, to be used as a bargaining chip in the future, and to exchange them with Israeli prisoners who have been held by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) in the Gaza Strip since 2014.

Bodies released

The occupation had previously released the bodies of children after their detention, including the body of the child Nassim Abu Romi (14 years), who was detained from August 5 until September 21, 2019, and the body of the child martyr Samah Zuhair Mubarak, 16, who was detained since January. January to March 2019, and the body of 16-year-old Muhammad Abdullah Hamed, who was released days after his detention in June 2022.

Khaled Al-Masalma, the father of the martyr Badawi Al-Masalma, is afraid of stealing his son’s organs (communication sites)

Wounded or martyred?

Unlike the children of other martyrs, Badawi Khaled Masalma's father says - to Al Jazeera Net - that the army did not give him the opportunity to get to know his son, and the army did not break into his house to search and investigate the family, as it usually happens with martyrs.

Therefore, the pacifist insists on his right to know the fate of his son, if he is alive, then that is what he wishes for, and if he is a martyr, he wants to take a farewell look at him and pray for him and bury him according to Islamic law.

Al-Masalma participates in most of the events organized by the National Campaign to Retrieve the Bodies of the Martyrs, which is a grouping for the families of the martyrs whose bodies Israel is holding, and calls on international and international organizations to help him find out the fate of his son.

Fears of organ theft

What raises the most peaceful fears is the theft of organs from his son's body, as he says, "We have doubts that he was alive and arrested, despite the fact that we were informed by phone of his death."

He explains that the unresolved and unknown fate of his son does not enable him to complete official transactions, as he cannot obtain a certificate of his death.

He added: "Detaining the body is like pain and an open wound, and bargaining with it is an inhumane process, and an imposed extortion, and Israel must be confronted before the courts, including the International Criminal."


Assassination in an ambush

A Badawi, from the village of Beit Awa in the southern West Bank, was shot dead on a settlement street through an Israeli army ambush, while two of his friends were arrested and released a year later.

Upon their release, the two friends told Badawi's family that they did not know the fate of their third, but an Israeli interrogator claimed that Badawi had confessed to them taking part in actions against the army, while another said he had been shot in the heart.

Khaled Al-Masalma refers to a threat he received from Israeli intelligence to arrest Badawi months before his disappearance.

Dozens of dead bodies are being held

On this, the media coordinator of the campaign to retrieve the bodies of the martyrs, Hussein Shujaiya, says that the number of bodies currently held is 102, after the occupation authorities returned to the policy of holding the bodies of the martyrs in 2015.

He stated that among the detained bodies, 8 belong to prisoners, and two are martyrs, as well as 256 bodies in the numbers graves.

And on Sunday, the occupation authorities handed over the body of the martyr Mai Afana from the town of Abu Dis, east of Jerusalem, who was executed at the Hizma checkpoint, east of Jerusalem, in June 2021.

No legal prospects

On the legal level, Shejaia stated that "the legal horizon is difficult and crippling" in this file, since the Israeli authorities linked it to the file of its captured soldiers in Gaza.

He added, "This link came in official responses from the Israeli Supreme Court to previous files.

He pointed out that the release of the martyr Afana (Tuesday, August 23) came after a petition to the Supreme Court, which asked the Public Prosecution months ago to reconsider the detention of her body. about the rest of the bodies.

A list of the names of the martyrs whose bodies are withheld

(Al-Jazeera -

archive

)

diplomatic efforts

For its part, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry transfers the file of the bodies to various international forums, but it complains about the "policy of double standards."

Dr. Ahmed Al-Deek, advisor to the Minister of Foreign Affairs - told Al Jazeera Net - that the Palestinian diplomacy submits official reports to the Human Rights Council, and identical messages to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, the presidency of the Security Council and the General Assembly of the United Nations, but to no avail.

Duality of standards

He added, "Unfortunately, the international community is immersed in double standards and a policy of double standards. It triumphs over human rights principles and takes measures to ensure their protection in any part of the world. When it comes to Israel, either this community becomes a coward, or it remains silent and does not dare to pressure Occupying state to force it to abide by human rights.

He called on the international community to "assume its responsibilities and put pressure on the occupying power to release the bodies of the martyrs."

He continued, "It has not been in history that an occupation commits a field execution crime against a citizen, and then commits another crime by arresting his body."