Israeli settlers force Palestinian family to exhume father’s body near Jenin

The relatives of Hussein Asasa described to NPR how they were forced to exhume and rebury their father when Israeli settlers interfered with his grave.

Israeli settlers dig up Palestinian grave and force family to rebury father Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank dug up the grave of 80-year-old Palestinian Hussein Asasa just hours after his burial, forcing his family to exhume and rebury his body in another cemetery near Jenin. Mohammed Asasa said settlers arrived at the village cemetery under the protection of Israeli forces and ordered the family to remove the body, claiming the land belonged to the nearby illegal Sa-Nur settlement recently re-established by Israel. "They had dug out the grave and reached the body." Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank dug up the grave of 80-year-old Palestinian Hussein Asasa just hours after his burial, forcing his family to exhume and rebury his body in another cemetery near Jenin. Mohammed Asasa… pic.twitter.com/6GdsSoW5xa — Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) May 10, 2026

A Palestinian family in Jenin says Israeli settlers forced them to exhume their father hours after his funeral.

Israeli settlers force Palestinian family to exhume father’s body in West Bank Israeli settlers forced a Palestinian family on Friday to exhume their father's body from a cemetery in the occupied West Bank. The settlers said the grave was too close to the recently re-established settlement of Sa-Nur, near Jenin, located around 300m from the burial site. This was despite the family of Hussein Asasa reportedly obtaining the necessary Israeli permits to bury him there. Shortly after the burial, settlers were seen digging at the cemetery, leading to confrontations with Palestinians in the area, according to Haaretz. The Israeli army said it intervened to confiscate the settlers’ digging equipment. The family said they were then forced to exhume the body and transfer it to another cemetery under Israeli military presence. Read more: Israeli settlers force Palestinian family to exhume father’s body in West Bank  

Israeli settlers force Palestinian family to exhume father’s body in West Bank Submitted by MEE staff on Sat, 05/09/2026 - 13:36 Under military protection, settlers threw stones as a grieving family was forced to remove their father’s remains for reburial elsewhere Settlers said the grave was too close to the recently re-established settlement of Sa-Nur near Jenin, despite the family having obtained permits to bury him there (X/screengrab) Off Israeli settlers forced a Palestinian family on Friday to exhume their father's body from a cemetery in the occupied West Bank. The settlers said the grave was too close to the recently re-established settlement of Sa-Nur, near Jenin, located around 300m from the burial site. This was despite the family of Hussein Asasa reportedly obtaining the necessary Israeli permits to bury him there. Shortly after the burial, settlers were seen digging at the cemetery, leading to confrontations with Palestinians in the area, according to Haaretz. The Israeli army said it intervened to confiscate the settlers’ digging equipment. The family said they were then forced to exhume the body and transfer it to another cemetery under Israeli military presence. During the removal, settlers threw stones at the grieving family. Ajith Sunghay, head of the UN human rights office in Palestine, condemned the incident. “This is appalling and emblematic of the dehumanisation of Palestinians that we see unfolding across the OPT [Occupied Palestinian Territory],” Sunghay said. “It spares no one, dead or alive.” Violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians has long been a feature of the occupied West Bank, but it has intensified sharply since the war on Gaza began in 2023. Settlers now carry out near-daily attacks on Palestinian villages and communities, including vandalism, arson, forced displacement and physical assaults, sometimes involving firearms. Last month, Israeli settlers shot dead two Palestinians, including a teenage student, during an attack on a school northeast of Ramallah. According to the Palestinian Authority’s Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission, at least 50 Palestinians have been killed by settlers since October 2023, including 15 this year alone. Occupation News Post Date Override 0 Update Date Mon, 05/04/2020 - 21:19 Update Date Override 0