Funerals were held Saturday for two Palestinian Authority terrorists whose bodies were held by Israel until late Friday, when they were returned to their families in Ramallah and Jerusalem, according to the Bethlehem-based Ma’an news site.
Mu’en Nasser al-Din Abu Qara’a, 23, was shot and killed by Israeli soldiers November 3 near Ofra while attempting a stabbing attack at the entrance to the Jewish town. The attacker was “armed with a knife attempted to stab an Israeli soldier guarding a bus stop” according to an IDF spokesperson, but was neutralized before he was able to hurt anyone.
Hammad Khader Al-Sheikh, 21, was killed while carrying out a stabbing attack in the Old City of Jerusalem on December 14. Armed with a screwdriver, the attacker approached a group of Israeli Border Guard Police officers stationed near the Austrian Hospice hospital and stabbed one of the officers in the head.
Both were hailed on the website of the ruling Hamas terrorist organization in Gaza as “martyrs.”
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said in a brief statement that the bodies of the two men were delivered at el-Jeb checkpoint and were then transferred to “Palestine Medical Complex” in Ramallah.
Israel has been selective about which bodies of terrorists are returned to families since the October 2015 outbreak of the “Jerusalem Intifada,” as it is referred to on the website of the Izz a-Din al-Qassam military wing of Hamas.
The families are held to a number of conditions before they are allowed to receive the bodies of terrorists killed while trying to kill Israelis, including a promise to limit the number of attendees at the funeral and an agreement to deployment of Israeli soldiers at the proceedings. Terrorist funerals have long been forums for fierce incitement against Israel and vigorous recruitment sites for anti-Israel activists and new terrorist trainees.