Israeli forces delivered on early Sunday morning the bodies of two young Palestinian men to the Palestinian military and civil liaison department, Palestinian sources told Ma'an. The bodies of Raed Jaradat, 22, and Mahmoud Ghneimat, 20, were delivered to the liaison department and then to their families, the sources said. Both of the men are from the Hebron and were killed by Israeli troops in late October following what Israeli sources reported as stabbing attacks. Israeli authorities on Saturday had agreed to release the bodies of at least seven Palestinians being held by Israeli authorities following a joint funeral of five others whose bodies Israel had released on Friday. However, Palestinian sources told Ma'an that Israeli forces retracted their latest decision to release all seven bodies, and instead only released the two. Jaradat, from the village of Sair east of Hebron, was shot dead by Israeli soldiers on Oct. 26, after Israelis sources said he stabbed and injured a 19-year-old Israeli soldier in the neck. Similarly, Ghneimat, from the village of Surif west of Hebron, was shot dead on Oct. 22 after Israeli sources said he had attempted a stabbing attack, however the circumstances around the incident are unclear. The sources said Israeli forces stipulated that the two men should be buried at night in order to avoid a large, politically charged funeral, but the Palestinian families refused that stipulation insisting on "decent funerals." The joint funeral is expected to take place on Sunday around midday. Israel's security cabinet decided earlier this month that the bodies of Palestinians shot dead by Israeli forces after carrying out attacks on Israeli citizens would no longer be returned to their families. The decision -- one among a series of stringent security measures -- was an attempt to stem protests that frequently accompany the funerals of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces. Palestinians killed by Israeli forces are considered martyrs in Palestinian society and highly respected and their funerals tend to be politically charged. Israeli news sites reported that Israel's Minister of Internal Security had been holding the bodies of those killed by Israeli forces after alleged attacks out of fear that "their funerals would be used for incitement." Israel has kept the bodies of the majority of Palestinians killed this month, many of which were Hebron-area residents according to Israeli daily Haaretz, which reported that the cabinet now considered keeping the bodies "a burden and not an asset."
