UN condemns confrontation in occupied West Financial institution as ‘appalling and emblematic of the dehumanisation of Palestinians’.
Revealed On 9 Might 2026
A Palestinian household within the occupied West Financial institution has been compelled by Israeli settlers, reportedly below army safety, to dig up their father’s grave and rebury him, which the United Nations is condemning as “appalling and dehumanising”.
Eighty-year-old Hussein Asasa died of pure causes on Friday and was buried shortly after in a cemetery in Asasa village close to Jenin.
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His son, Mohammed, stated the burial had been coordinated prematurely with Israeli safety forces, which supplied all mandatory permits.
Nonetheless, shortly after the burial, settlers threatened the Asasa household, ordering them to exhume the physique, claiming it had been buried on land that fashioned a part of an Israeli settlement. Below worldwide regulation, such settlements are thought of unlawful and usually are not recognised as Israeli territory.
“They stated the land was for settlement and that burial was not allowed. We informed them that that is the village’s cemetery, not a part of the settlement,” Mohammed Asasa stated.
The household was left with no selection however to adjust to the settlers’ calls for after they threatened to make use of a bulldozer to exhume the physique themselves.
In accordance with the Palestinian information company Wafa, Israeli troopers have been current throughout the confrontation and likewise pressured the household to bury their beloved one elsewhere.
“We discovered that they [the settlers] already dug the grave and reached the physique,” Asasa stated.
“We continued digging and acquired the physique and buried him in one other cemetery.”
The Israeli army has denied giving reburial directions to the household, saying troopers have been despatched to the world after receiving reviews of a confrontation involving settlers. The army stated troopers confiscated digging instruments from the settlers and remained on the scene to “stop additional friction”.
The UN Human Rights Workplace condemned what occurred.
“That is appalling and emblematic of the dehumanisation of Palestinians that we see unfolding throughout the OPT (Occupied Palestinian Territories). It spares nobody, lifeless or alive,” stated Ajith Sunghay, head of the OHCHR Palestinian workplace.
Rise in settler violence
Assaults by settlers have surged since Israel launched its genocidal battle on Palestinians in Gaza in October 2023.
On Friday, settlers carried out a number of assaults throughout the occupied West Financial institution, attacking a toddler whereas setting properties and vehicles ablaze.
In February, Amnesty Worldwide warned that international impunity was fuelling Israel’s unlawful annexation of the occupied West Financial institution – territory thought of essential for any future Palestinian state.
The human rights organisation accused Israel of “overtly” increasing its unlawful settlements.
