Israel returns body of failed stabber Rasha Awissi

Israel returned the body of Palestinian terrorist Rasha Awissi to her family in the West Bank Sunday.

Awissi, 23, of Qalqilya, was killed on November 9 as she attempted to stab security guards at the Eliyahu checkpoint near the West Bank settlement of Alfei Menashe.

Awissi was affiliated with Hamas, Israel Radio reported.

Her funeral Sunday in Qalqilya drew hundreds.

According to Hamas media outlets, Palestinian Authority security services forbade the flying of Hamas flags during the funeral.

Awissi was shot after refusing calls to stop approaching the guards at the checkpoint while wielding a knife. Police found a note on her person addressed to her family.

“I’m ending my path, and I’m reaching this end with my full mental capacity, in defense of my homeland and the young men and women [of my people],” Awissi wrote in the letter. “I can’t bear what I see any longer. All I know is that I can’t take it. To my mother and brothers, please forgive me,” she added.

Palestinians say Israel still has possession of some 60 bodies of terrorists killed during attacks over the past three months, some one-third from the Hebron area, which saw the highest share of attacks.

Protests calling to return their bodies took place in Hebron, Nablus and Gaza in recent days, Israel Radio reported.

Israeli authorities in some cases delay the return of the bodies in order to prevent or at least dampen the mass-rallies that accompany the terrorists’ funerals, where participants often call for the murder of Israelis and urge new terror attacks. The delay is thought to lessen the significance attached to any particular attacker, and so to reduce participation in the funeral.

Raoul Wootliff contributed to this report.