By Awad al-Rujoub
RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA) - The Israeli army handed back two corpses Friday of Palestinians killed earlier this week by illegal settlers near Nablus in the northern occupied West Bank.
The National Campaign for the Recovery of Martyrs’ Bodies said Israeli authorities handed over the bodies of Abdel-Rahman Bani Fadel, 30, and Mohammad Bani Jame', 21, who were killed by settlers' bullets.
Hussien Shejaeah, the Campaign’s coordinator, told Anadolu that Israeli authorities are still holding the bodies of 248 Palestinians killed as far back as 2015.
Israeli Army Radio said Monday the two Palestinians were killed by illegal settlers in northern the West Bank.
The official Palestinian news agency, WAFA, for its part, said the settlers were protected by Israeli forces when attacking the Khirbet at-Tawil area, east of Aqraba town in southern Nablus city.
Withholding Palestinian bodies constitutes a policy of collective punishment by Israel which is prohibited under the Hague Regulations of the Fourth Geneva Convention.
Recently, illegal settlers, protected by the Israeli forces, have been attacking Palestinian villages and towns, during which they assaulted Palestinians and torched homes and vehicles.
Tensions have been high across the occupied territory amid ongoing Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip, where more than 34,000 victims have been killed since a cross-border attack by Hamas on Oct. 7.
At least 470 Palestinians have since been killed by Israeli army fire in the West Bank, according to the Health Ministry.
*Writing by Ahmed Asmar