The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com The body of the Palestinian Fatah terrorist will be kept as part of efforts to reach a deal to return Israelis held captive by Hamas in Gaza.
Israel will hold onto the body of Nasser Abu Hamid, one of the founders of Fatah’s al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, as part of efforts to negotiate a deal with Hamas, Defense Minister Benny Gantz announced on Wednesday morning.
The deal Gantz is hoping to achieve would return captured Israelis Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed, who have been held in Gaza since 2014 and 2015 respectively. It would also see the return of the bodies of Lt. Hadar Goldin and Sgt. Oron Shaul who were killed during Operation Protective Edge in 2014.
Gantz said that his decision was simply following protocol already approved by the security cabinet, although Israel has swung wildly back and forth on returning the bodies of Palestinian terrorists in the past.
The move was unusual because it appears that Jerusalem is intentionally linking the return of a Fatah militant to negotiations with Hamas, whereas in the past, Israel has preferred to delink such issues so as not to empower Gazaâs current rulers.
It was also an unusual move since Abu Hamid died while in Israeli custody serving a life sentence, whereas most other cases of holding back terroristsâ bodies occurred after they were killed in the field.
READ FULL ARTICLE HERE…- The Jerusalem Post (jpost.com)
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