The return of two terrorists' bodies to their families for burial last week was a mistake and the military is investigating the issue, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot told the Diplomatic-Security Cabinet Wednesday.
Last Friday, moments before the start of Shabbat, the IDF handed over the bodies of Nimer Mahmoud Ahmad Jamal, who murdered three Israelis in Har Adar in September, and the body of Hamzeh Yousef Zamaareh, who stabbed a civilian security guard at the entrance to Carmei Tzur on Feb. 7, to their families.
Speaking at a Yisrael Beytenu faction meeting on Monday, Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman called the move "absurd," adding that it was "unthinkable."
The handover went ahead despite an early cabinet decision not to return terrorists' bodies until Hamas agrees to return the remains of two Israeli soldiers killed in 2014, as well as at least two civilians believed to be held captive in Gaza.
The Gaza-based terrorist group has the bodies of Staff Sgt. Oron Shaul and Lt. Hadar Goldin, killed in battle during the 2014 Operation Protective Edge. Ethiopian Israeli Avera Mengistu and Bedouin Israeli Hisham al-Sayed, both known to be psychologically unstable, crossed into Gaza voluntarily in 2014 and 2015 and are believed to have been captured by Hamas. A fifth Israeli, Jumaa Abu Ghanima, crossed the border into Gaza in 2016, and his fate remains unknown.
Eizenkot's remark on Wednesday did not seem to apply to the general handling of terrorists' bodies but rather to the way this specific transfer unfolded. He noted that the protocols for handing over terrorists' bodies had been amended for future reference. He did not elaborate.
Also on Wednesday, the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee approved the so-called "terrorist wages bill," sponsored by Lieberman.
The legislative proposal, approved as part of Israel's war on terror, stipulates that at the end of each fiscal year, the defense minister will present the Ministerial Committee on National Security with a report detailing the direct and indirect payments the Palestinian Authority has made to terrorists and their families. The figure will then be deducted from the tax funds collected by Israel on behalf of the PA.
The bill is expected to be presented to the Knesset for its first vote in the coming weeks.
