Israel has confiscated the body of a 14-year-old Palestinian boy who was killed by Israeli forces near Jerusalem on Monday in the occupied West Bank, the civil society organisation Defense for Children International said.
The withholding of Wadea Shadi Sa’d Elayan’s body brings the total number of Palestinian children’s bodies confiscated by Israel to 25, according to the Defense for Children organisation.
“Palestinian children cannot rest even in death as Israeli authorities continue confiscating children’s bodies and withholding them from their families indefinitely,” the organisation’s accountability director Ayed Abu Eqtaish said in a statement.
“Israeli authorities’ practice of confiscating and withholding Palestinian bodies is a violation of international humanitarian law and international human rights law,” the organisation said.
From 2016 until now, Israel has withheld the bodies of 25 Palestinian children from their families – a practice that was approved by the Israeli Supreme Court in 2019 following a government order that the bodies of Palestinians alleged to have attacked Israelis be withheld from their families.
According to the organisation, 121 Palestinian children were killed by Israeli forces and settlers in the occupied West Bank in 2023 and, so far this year, 15 children have been killed in the occupied territory by Israeli settlers and soldiers.
