Israel returns body of Palestinian woman shot dead by army over a year ago

Israel returned on Tuesday the body of a Palestinian woman shot dead by its army in 2021 to her family, after more than a year of desperate appeals.

The funeral of Mai Afana, 29, was well attended in her hometown of Abu Dis near Jerusalem, official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.

Afana was shot dead by Israeli soldiers in Hizma, a town in the occupied West Bank near Jerusalem, in June 2021.

Wafa at the time of Afana's death reported that the Israeli army fired on her after she drove down a "road under construction for military purposes".

The military claimed she tried to ram troops with her car before getting out with a "knife drawn".

Turkish news agency Anadolu in August last year reported that her family rejected this allegation, particularly given the fact that she was ill at the time.

Israel commonly withholds the bodies of Palestinians it alleges were killed carrying out "terror" attacks, though often fails to provide evidence they were involved in armed activity. The bodies are used as leverage in negotiations with Palestinians.

Legal advocacy group Adalah, which is based in Israel and works for the rights of Palestinians living there, slammed Israeli authorities' holding of Palestinian bodies last year.

Adalah said: "Israel's policy of holding Palestinian bodies… is inhumane and degrading, and a blatant violation of international law, including the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court."

It came after the Israeli Supreme Court denied a petition the group lodged against the Israeli military's holding of the body of 27-year-old Ahmad Erekat.