Israeli Settlers Force Hussein Asasa’s Family To Exhume And Rebury Near Jenin

Israeli settlers forced Palestinians to exhume the body of Hussein Asasa, 80, from his freshly dug village grave near Jenin in the occupied West Bank and rebury him after the burial was completed on Friday.

Asasa’s son Mohammed said the burial had been coordinated in advance with Israeli security forces and that the family was called back when settlers ordered the grave be dug up, with Asasa saying, “They said the land was for settlement and that burial was not allowed.”

- IMEMC News

Reuters reported that the Israeli military said soldiers were sent after a report about a confrontation with settlers who were “digging in the area,” and that the soldiers confiscated digging tools from Israeli civilians and stayed to prevent further friction.

The incident was tied to a settlement re-established by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, with Reuters noting that Sa-Nur was one of 19 settlements evacuated under the 2005 Israeli disengagement plan and that construction had advanced rapidly, according to Peace Now.

The UN Human Rights Office condemned the incident, with Ajith Sunghay, head of the OHCHR Palestinian office, saying, “This is appalling and emblematic of the dehumanization of Palestinians that we see unfolding across the OPT.”

The UN Human Rights Office condemned the episode as “appalling and dehumanising,” while Al Jazeera reported that Hussein Asasa died of natural causes on Friday and was buried shortly after in a cemetery in Asasa village near Jenin.

Mohammed Asasa told Al Jazeera, “We told them that this is the village’s cemetery, not part of the settlement,” as the family said settlers threatened to use a bulldozer to exhume the body themselves.

Al Jazeera

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

Haaretz described the settlers’ claim that the burial site was too close to the settlement of Sa-Nur, which it said was recently resettled after more than 20 years, and quoted a relative saying an armed settler told him, “Either you exhume the body, or we do it.”

The incident unfolded as Al Jazeera linked a rise in settler violence to Israel’s “genocidal war on Palestinians in Gaza in October 2023,” saying attacks by settlers have surged across the occupied West Bank.

“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””

Al Jazeera

Al Jazeera reported that on Friday settlers carried out several attacks across the occupied West Bank, attacking a child while setting homes and cars ablaze, and it also cited Amnesty International’s warning that global impunity was fuelling Israel’s illegal annexation of the occupied West Bank.

In a separate account, PressTV said Israeli forces compelled the family to exhume their son’s grave overnight and move the body to another location, citing WAFA and claiming the cemetery was too close to an illegal settlement.

Ajith Sunghay, head of the OHCHR Palestinian office, reiterated the UN framing in the coverage, saying, “It spares no one, dead or alive,” as the family’s burial plans were disrupted under military presence and settlers’ demands.

The Jerusalem Post reported that the funeral had been approved by security forces and that IDF forces were dispatched after reports of a conflict, while the IDF said the issue of coordinating the funeral and managing the incident would be investigated by commanders and lessons drawn accordingly.