In a shocking incident that has drawn widespread international rebuke, a Palestinian family was compelled by Israeli settlers to disinter the body of their late father from a West Bank cemetery on Friday, deepening ongoing concerns over escalating settler violence in the occupied territory. The confrontation unfolded near the recently reestablished Israeli settlement of Sa-Nur, located close to the city of Jenin. Settlers claimed the burial site, situated roughly 300 meters from the settlement outpost, violated their unstated proximity rules – a demand that ignored the fact the family of the deceased, Hussein Asasa, had secured all required Israeli government permits for the burial.
According to reporting from Israeli outlet Haaretz, settlers immediately began digging at the cemetery shortly after the funeral ceremony concluded, triggering tense physical confrontations between the settlers and local Palestinian residents who gathered to protect the grave. The Israeli military confirmed it dispatched forces to the scene, where personnel seized the digging tools the settlers had brought to excavate the site. Despite this intervention, the Asasa family ultimately said they had no choice but to remove the body themselves and reburry it at a separate cemetery, all under armed Israeli military escort. During the traumatic process, settlers pelted the grieving family with stones as they carried out the exhumation.
The United Nations’ top human rights official in Palestine condemned the act in stark terms. Ajith Sunghay, head of the UN human rights office in the Palestinian territories, called the incident appalling, noting it was a clear example of the systematic dehumanization of Palestinians unfolding across the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT). “It spares no one, dead or alive,” Sunghay said of the ongoing pattern of abuse.
Settler violence against Palestinian communities in the occupied West Bank is not a new development, but experts and local authorities have documented a dramatic surge in attacks since the outbreak of the Israel-Gaza war in October 2023. Today, settlers carry out near-daily assaults on Palestinian villages and population centers, ranging from property vandalism and arson to forced displacement and violent physical attacks, many of which involve the use of firearms.
Just last month, a deadly settler attack on a school northeast of Ramallah left two Palestinians dead, including a 15-year-old teenage student. Data collected by the Palestinian Authority’s Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission underscores the scale of the escalating violence: since October 2023, at least 50 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli settlers, with 15 of those fatalities recorded in the current year alone. The incident has renewed international calls for accountability for settler violence and protections for Palestinian civilians living under occupation.