Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz called on the Palestinian Authority to return the body of a citizen, whom Tel Aviv says was kidnapped from a hospital in the northern West Bank.
In a video clip posted on his Twitter account, Gantz said, "We are making extensive efforts to return the body of Tiran Ferro, who died yesterday in a traffic accident, and his body was kidnapped from a hospital in Jenin."
He continued, "We expect the Palestinian Authority and its security services to work to return his body immediately. Israel is committed to returning Tiran's body to his family, which will happen."
And the official "Voice of Palestine" radio announced, earlier Wednesday, that Palestinian gunmen are holding the body of an Israeli Druze youth in the Jenin camp, demanding the release of the bodies of martyrs being held by Israel.
The radio indicated that Palestinian authorities have made efforts to hand over the body (held in Jenin camp) to the Israeli side, but they have not succeeded so far.
Gunmen in the city of Jenin during their participation in the funeral of a Palestinian who was shot dead by the occupation (Reuters)
In turn, local sources in the Jenin camp told Anadolu Agency that gunmen are calling on the Israeli authorities to release the bodies of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in exchange for the detained body.
In the context, dozens of Palestinians marched in the Jenin refugee camp, in the northern West Bank, on Wednesday evening, demanding the release of bodies being held by Israel. The participants in the march called on all human rights and humanitarian institutions to intervene and pressure the Israeli authorities to hand over the bodies.
The Israeli army had said, earlier on Wednesday, that the body of one of its citizens who died in a traffic accident in the vicinity of Jenin was "taken" from a Palestinian hospital.
The army's comment came after Israeli media said, at dawn on Wednesday, that Palestinian gunmen kidnapped the body of an Israeli from a hospital in Jenin, after he was killed in a traffic accident in which he was injured along with another Israeli who was accompanying him.
Israeli television and several Israeli newspapers published news of the kidnapping of the dead body, saying that he was a Druze named Tiran Ferro, 18, from the town of Daliat al-Carmel (southeast of Haifa).
Israel is currently holding the bodies of 117 Palestinians since 2015, including 12 children, 9 prisoners, and two women, and 17 of these bodies belong to Jenin Governorate, according to an official census.
Israel also holds 256 corpses in the "number cemeteries", which are simple burials surrounded by stones without evidence. A metal plate bearing a number, not the name of the owner of the body, is attached to each grave. Each number has a special file kept by the Israeli security authorities.