Israel returns nine bodies of killed Palestinians

Israel returns nine bodies of killed Palestinians
Israeli authorities hand over the bodies of nine Palestinians who the army says were killed attempting to 'carry out attacks'.
2 min read
24 December, 2016
Israel has handed over nine Palestinians killed while allegedly carrying out attacks on its soldiers and civilians, the army said on Friday.

Five of the bodies were from the flashpoint city of Hebron in the occupied West Bank, an army spokeswoman said, and were gived to Palestinian authorities.

They were returned a week after Israel handed Palestinian authorities the bodies of seven other Palestinians. 

A wave of Palestinian attacks erupted last year, but the violence has greatly subsided in recent months.

Since October 2015, at least 246 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire, at least 33 of them under the age of 18.

Rights groups accused Israel of carrying out "unlawful killings" against Palestinians.

Amnesty International said Israeli forces were displaying "an appalling disregard for human life by using reckless and unlawful lethal force against Palestinians."

The rights group said it sent a memorandum to authorities in Tel Aviv detailing at least 20 cases of "unlawful killings of Palestinians by Israeli forces."

"Palestinians were deliberately shot dead, despite posing no imminent threat to life, in what appear to be extrajudicial executions," Amnesty said.

Israel says a Palestinian campaign of incitement is fanning the violence, arguing that most of the Palestinian killed were allegedly carrying out knife, gun or car ramming attacks.

Many Palestinians were also shot dead during protests, while some died in Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip.

Since the start of the violence, Israeli forces have confiscated the bodies of Palestinians killed - often for several months - claiming this would deter further acts of violence.

Agencies contributed to this report.