Palestinian officials condemned the exhumation of a recently buried deceased man in the village of Al-Asa’sa, south of Jenin, after Israeli occupation soldiers and illegal paramilitary colonizers dug up his grave only hours after the funeral.
The incident was described as a serious violation of human dignity and another example of escalating abuses carried out under military protection.
“A Horrific Crime”
Head of the Palestinian National Council, Rawhi Fattouh, said the desecration constitutes “a horrific crime and a blatant violation of all human, religious, and moral values.”
He stressed that targeting cemeteries and the sanctity of the dead is a war crime under international humanitarian law and the Geneva Conventions.
Fattouh called on the international community and the International Criminal Court to intervene immediately, warning that Israel’s continued impunity encourages further violations across the occupied territories.
Tibi: Soldiers and Colonizers Acted Together
Knesset member Dr. Ahmad Tibi (Hadash–Ta’al) said the incident echoed the practices of fascist regimes in the 1930s and 1940s, noting that “the Germans used to dig up Jewish graves to break the living by humiliating the dead.”
Tibi added that the family had coordinated the burial in advance, as required by the occupation.
Hours later, colonizers from the illegal Sanur colony stormed the cemetery, dug up the grave, and attempted to remove the body while Israeli soldiers stood beside them.
Villagers rushed to the site, where colonizers shouted, “This is our land,” before the family was forced to relocate the body to another cemetery.
Tibi described the scene as “another moral collapse by an army that falsely claims to be the most moral in the world.”
Part of a Wider Pattern of Violations
Human rights groups have documented a sharp rise in colonizer attacks across the West Bank, including assaults on villages, land seizures, and repeated desecration of religious sites.
Analysts say the targeting of graves is part of a broader strategy aimed at breaking Palestinian resilience and asserting control over land and memory.
Calls for Accountability
Palestinian leaders stressed that the incident is not isolated but part of a systematic policy of intimidation. They vowed to raise the case internationally to expose the partnership between the army and colonizers in carrying out violations.
