Israeli settlers force Palestinian family to exhume and rebury their father

A Palestinian family in the occupied West Bank has been forced by Israeli settlers, reportedly under military protection, 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 natural causes on Friday and was buried shortly after in a cemetery in Asasa village near Jenin.

His son, Mohammed, said the burial had been coordinated in advance with Israeli security forces, which provided all necessary permits.

However, shortly after the burial, settlers threatened the Asasa family, ordering them to exhume the body, claiming it had been buried on land that formed part of an Israeli settlement. Under international law, such settlements are considered illegal and are not recognised as Israeli territory.

“They said the land was for settlement and that burial was not allowed. We told them that this is the village’s cemetery, not part of the settlement,” Mohammed Asasa said.

The family was left with no choice but to comply with the settlers’ demands after they threatened to use a bulldozer to exhume the body themselves.

According to the Palestinian news agency Wafa, Israeli soldiers were present during the confrontation and also pressured the family to bury their loved one elsewhere.

“We found that they [the settlers] already dug the grave and reached the body,” Asasa said.

“We continued digging and got the body and buried him in another cemetery.”

The Israeli military has denied giving reburial instructions to the family, saying soldiers were sent to the area after receiving reports of a confrontation involving settlers. The military said soldiers confiscated digging tools from the settlers and remained at the scene to “prevent further friction”.

The ⁠UN Human Rights Office condemned what happened.

“This is appalling and emblematic of the dehumanisation of Palestinians that we see unfolding across the OPT (Occupied Palestinian Territories). It spares no one, dead ⁠or alive,” said Ajith Sunghay, head of the OHCHR Palestinian office.

Rise in settler violence

Attacks by settlers have surged since Israel launched its genocidal war on Palestinians in Gaza in October 2023.

On Friday, settlers carried out several attacks across the occupied West Bank, attacking a child while setting homes and cars ablaze.

In February, Amnesty International warned that global impunity was fuelling Israel’s illegal annexation of the occupied West Bank – territory considered crucial for any future Palestinian state.