Saeb Erekat, a member of the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), urged the international community to exercise diplomatic and political pressure on Israel to release the bodies of the detained Palestinians without preconditions.

Erekat sent on Tuesday urgent messages in this respect to the foreign ministers of the US, Russia and EU states as well as the United Nations secretary general.

Israel's foot-dragging in releasing the Palestinian martyrs' bodies is a well-examined political decision to extort Palestinians and practice collective punishment policy against the families of the martyrs, he said.

He considered the action as a flagrant violation of the Human Rights principles and the Geneva conventions, noting that this measure flares up tension.

Israel has been holding 12 bodies of Palestinian martyrs.

Source: MENA