Israel Threatens to Withhold Aid Over Bodies, Not Human Lives
BBC World reports Hamas has returned four more bodies of Israeli hostages, parroting the Israeli military's warning of aid restrictions into Gaza over 'delays'. This framing conveniently omits Israel's decades-long practice of withholding Palestinian bodies. As of October 2023, Israel held at least 120 Palestinian bodies, some since the 1960s, a policy condemned by human rights groups as
collective punishment. (Source: Al Jazeera, 2023, 'Why Israel is withholding the bodies of dead Palestinians'). So, the regime that weaponizes corpses for political leverage now threatens humanitarian aid over bodies. The irony, as ever, is lost on a media seemingly content to print talking points. How many times will we hear about 'delays' and 'warnings' before we talk about disproportionate
response and systemic dehumanization?