Women of Umm al-Khair continue hunger strike for sixth day as Israel refuses to hand over Awdah Hathaleen’s body

Around 60 women in the village of Umm al-Khair in the South Hebron Hills in the West Bank have been on a hunger strike for six days to protest the fact that the Israeli military has not yet returned the body of Awdah Hathaleen to his family for burial. Hathaleen was fatally shot last Monday in a confrontation with settlers outside of the village.

According to the family, the army conditioned the return of his body on holding a small funeral with restricted attendance in the evening hours. It also demanded that he be buried outside the village, claiming the local cemetery is illegal.

The IDF has not responded to a request from The Times of Israel for comment on the matter.

Meanwhile, Yinon Levi, a settler from the area who was arrested by police on suspicion of reckless manslaughter after being seen in a video firing toward Palestinians in the incident, was released from house arrest yesterday and resumed the construction work near the village that sparked the confrontation in which Hathaleen was killed.

On Friday, a court rejected a police request to extend Levi’s house arrest.

During the hearing, the judge stated that the reasonable suspicion against Levi had weakened and that the claim of no causal link between his gunfire and Hathaleen’s death was supported by evidence gathered from the Palestinian side, as well as his claim of self-defense.