This national campaign decided to escalate the protest steps in all Palestinian cities to put pressure on the Israeli government and International Organizations including the Red Cross, to urgently intervene to release the bodies of the martyrs
Jakarta (ANTARA) - Palestine has urged Israel to return the bodies of 51 Palestinian martyrs who they have been holding in a freezer since October 2015. The statement was delivered by the First Secretary of the Palestinian Embassy in Indonesia, Muamar Milhem, at a press conference for the National Campaign for the Repatriation of Palestinian Martyrs in Jakarta Wednesday.

Israeli authorities have been holding the bodies of more than 260 Palestinian martyrs since 1967, which includes those 51, in freezers since October 2015, according to the statistics made available by the national campaign.

"This national campaign decided to escalate the protest steps in all Palestinian cities to put pressure on the Israeli government and International Organizations including the Red Cross, to urgently intervene to release the bodies of the martyrs," Milhem said.

Israel allegedly stole Palestinian corpses and traded them, according to reports. That action violated all laws and human rights.

"From this forum, we want to send a message to the world that the repatriation of the bodies of martyrs is a very important issue for us," he said.

Israel has continued to maintain a policy of detaining Palestinian corpses for years to pressure Palestinian leaders, Milhem said.

The occupation authorities are holding the bodies of Palestinian martyrs in the tombs of numbers.

The tomb is a military grave that is closed to the community and the bodies of the Palestinians are marked with number plates.

"Palestinian families and human rights institutions are prohibited from entering the cemetery," Milhem said.

Because of this, Muamar has asked all Muslims to unite to pressure Israel to release the bodies of Palestinian martyrs.

The bodies must be buried properly according to their respective beliefs, he added. (INE)

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Reporter: Azis Kurmala
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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