Israel refuses to hand over prominent Palestinian prisoner Khader Adnan’s body

Mural of Khader Adnan on hunger strike in Gaza City

Jack Khoury report in Haaretz on 7 May 2023:

Israel is refusing to hand over the body of Khader Adnan, a prominent Palestinian prisoner who died as a result of an 86-day hunger strike last week, the first ever Palestinian to die from the widespread protest tactic.

According to the Adnan family, the decision is on the Defense Ministry’s table, and for now, the government has not clarified whether it intends to do so.

The death of the senior Palestinian Islamic Jihad member in prison last Tuesday triggered militant groups in the Gaza Strip to fire rockets and saw a general strike across the West Bank. The Israeli military responded by attacking Hamas targets in Gaza, prompting further rounds of rocket attacks on communities in southern Israel.

Palestinian sources told Haaretz that the ceasefire negotiations between the IDF and Gaza militants on Wednesday focused on the return of Adnan’s body to his family, as well as ensuring that Israel did not impose limits on Gazan fishermen.

Adnan’s remains join those of 132 other Palestinians still being kept by Israeli authorities as of 2015, according to Palestinian data, a long-standing practice used by Israel to gain leverage over Palestinian militant groups or for future prisoner swaps. The tactic has garnered widespread criticism from Palestinians and human rights groups, who say the practice is a form of collective punishment against international law.

Last week, Israel returned the remains of three Palestinian militants killed in the West Bank to the Palestinian Authority against the objection by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s [sic].

“The decision by the defense minister to return the bodies of the terrorists from the Lions’ Den organization, which has committed a large part of the terror attacks in Judea and Samaria recently, is a grave mistake that will cost us dearly,” Ben-Gvir said in a statement, adding that his party members will continue to abstain from Knesset votes until further notice.

Shortly following Adnan’s death, the head of Israel’s Prison Service ordered prisons to remain on high alert out of concern that the spread of prison riots could have widespread implications.

Israel accused Adnan of supporting terror, affiliation with a terror group and incitement. He had been in and out of detention and had undertaken five hunger strikes since 2004.

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