BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Israeli authorities will return the body of slain Palestinian Ibrahim Matar --
shot dead by Israeli forces in March -- on Wednesday at midnight, according to a statement from the Palestinian Committee of Prisoners' Affairs.
The committee said that Israeli authorities will return Matar’s body on the condition that his family buries his body at the Bab al-Sahira (Herod's Gate) cemetery in occupied East Jerusalem between midnight and 1:00 a.m, that only 20 people take part in the funeral procession, and that the family pay a fine of 20,000 shekels ($5,541) if the previous conditions are not met.
The 25-year-old resident of the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Jabal al-Mukabbir was shot dead at Jerusalem's Old City by an Israeli border police officer after he allegedly committed a stabbing attack against two other policemen.
Witnesses and family members described Matar's killings
as a cold-blooded execution, insisting that Matar could have easily been detained without the use of lethal force.
At the time of his death, Matar was the 12th Palestinian to be killed by Israelis in 2017, a number that has reached 19 as of May.
After returning the bodies of Palestinians slain while committing or allegedly committing attacks, Israeli authorities typically impose a number of restrictions on funerals, including limiting the number of attendees and the deployment of Israeli soldiers throughout the event.
Palestinian families have also been forced to pay large financial deposits to the Israeli government as a collateral for potential “incitement” during the funerals and to ensure that families abide by Israeli-imposed conditions.
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