On 6 February 2024, in response to a call for input issued by the United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions for his upcoming report on the protection of dead persons and their human remains, including of victims of potentially unlawful killings, Al-Haq, Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, and Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Center (JLAC) sent a joint submission underscoring Israel’s continued and systematic oppression of Palestinians beyond their killing.
Specifically, the submission highlights the mutilation of Palestinian bodies by the Israeli occupying forces (IOF); the withholding of Palestinian bodies, including those of prisoners and detainees; the use of mass graves especially during the ongoing genocide in the Gaza Strip; and digging of Palestinian graves and cemeteries. The submission further places such draconian policies and practices within the broader context of Israel’s Zionist settler-colonialism and apartheid regime.
UN Office of the Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, International Criminal Court Prosecutor, International Court of Justice President: Investigate the Possibility that Israel is Committing the Crime of Genocide Against the Indigenous Palestinian People.