Palestinian families worried over lack of information after Israeli army shoots three Palestinians

The families of three young Palestinian men whose vehicle was fired on by the Israeli army on Monday have become increasingly worried as accurate information on their relatives' fates has not been forthcoming.

Salaamah Sharayah, Khaled Anbar Al-Dabbas and Basel Basbous were in the Jalazone refugee camp in the occupied West Bank when the incident took place.

Al-Dabbas and Basbous were declared dead. But then, the Palestinian Authority's Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees' Affairs on Tuesday said Basbous was found alive at an Israeli hospital, where he was being treated.

Reporting suggested two Palestinians had been killed and one injured in the incident. Sharayah's family announced his death on Tuesday evening, The New Arab's Arabic sister site, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, reported on Wednesday.

Sharayah's uncle Nasser said: "The family took the decision to declare him a martyr based on the discovery that Basel Basbous was the wounded man and the occupation had announced two martyrs."

He said the family therefore "implicitly assumed" Sharayah had been killed.

But the family "needs accurate information and to identify the corpse", Nasser added.

"We demand that it be handed over, and that a family member examine him and confirm his martyrdom [death]," he said.

The uncertainty and confusion suffered by Sharayah's mother and the rest of the family forced them to make this decision.

The Palestinian foreign ministry said it would raise the incident with the International Criminal Court, slamming it as a "heinous crime of execution" 👇https://t.co/6ZM3JsJUre

— The New Arab (@The_NewArab) October 3, 2022

Israel did not announce the fate of the young men and Palestinian institutions failed to provide accurate information in order to bring closure to the families.

The Palestinian health ministry usually announces the names of dead Palestinians after verifying their identities when the bodies are in a Palestinian hospital.

However, if the Israeli army is holding the body, the announcement is made after Israel provides the civil affairs authority, which is responsible for relations with the occupation, with the necessary information.

Hussein Shejaiah, the coordinator of a campaign working to recover bodies of dead Palestinians being held by Israel, said that since 2018 the information Israel provides has mostly been devoid of tangible evidence to identify the deceased.