Israeli authorities returned the body of slain Palestinian Muhammad Thabet Jallad on Friday to his home in Tulkarem city in the northern occupied West Bank, after the 25-year-old succumbed to a gunshot wound inflicted by Israeli forces in November.
Three months ago, Muhammad, on his way to his last chemotherapy session when he had boarded the wrong shared taxi, got off, and ran across the road to get a taxi travelling in the opposite direction. IDF soldiers shot him on November 9 2016 and refused to tell his family about the man's condition. His mother, Maisir, was permitted to visit the boy only once, for only two minutes .A few days before his death, he was moved from ICU to the surgical ward. Throughout the entire period, he continued to be remanded in custody by an Israeli military court.
Just as he was on the mend, the young man died last week, without the IDF anyone informing his family. His family only found out when his mother, feeling unsettled over her son's condition called one of the doctors she had met at the hospital, Dr. Jihad Bishara, by having her daughter search for his number online. He had promised to look into the situation.
“Do you believe in God?” Dr. Bishara asked her when she called him again. “Your son is dead.”
The doctor then called the family back shortly afterward, this time to inform them officially in the name of the hospital that Mohammed had died. The family do not know when their son died or the cause of death.
In response to Haartez's questioning over why he was shot and why his family was not allowed to visit or given a report regarding his condition, the IDF issued this statement:
"On November 9, 2016, Mohammed-Amar Jalad carried out a knifing attack on soldiers at the Hawara checkpoint, using a knife sharpener. The force responded with fire, wounding the terrorist, who was evacuated to Beilinson Hospital for treatment."
Head of the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society in Tulkarem, Ibrahim al-Nimr told Ma’an that the Israeli army returned Jallad’s body to his family at the Anab checkpoint in the presence of Palestinian civil and military liaison.
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