Israeli Settlers Force Palestinian Family to Exhume Father's Body from Cemetery Near Re-established Sa-Nur Settlement

On May 9, 2026, Israeli settlers in the northern West Bank forced a Palestinian family to exhume and rebury the freshly buried body of their 80-year-old father, Hussein Asasa, from a village cemetery in Al-Asasa village near the re-established Sa-Nur settlement. The settlers claimed the cemetery was too close to the settlement — approximately 300 meters — and demanded the body be moved. Although the family had coordinated the original burial in advance with Israeli security forces, settlers interfered. The family was given only 30 minutes to complete the exhumation and reburial. Israeli soldiers present at the scene did not stop the settlers. The Israeli military later issued a statement condemning the incident. The UN Human Rights Office cited the case as an example of 'growing dehumanization' of Palestinians by settlers. Sa-Nur settlement was originally evacuated under Israel's 2005 Gaza disengagement plan and has since been re-established. The incident drew international condemnation as one of the most viscerally disturbing examples of settler violence in weeks — coming days after IDF Central Command Chief Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth called settler violence 'Jewish terror' and EU foreign ministers moved toward sanctions.