Israel to hold remains of deceased Palestinian prisoner

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s defense minister says the remains of a Palestinian prisoner who died a day earlier from lung cancer will not be released for burial. Benny Gantz’s office said Wednesday that the body of Nasser Abu Hamid, a former leader of the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade, would be held as a bargaining chip to secure the return of captive Israelis and the remains of soldiers held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Fifty-year-old Abu Hamid was a former leader of the armed wing of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah party. He had been serving multiple life sentences since 2002 for the deaths of seven Israelis. Palestinians marched and shuttered shops in the West Bank on Tuesday to protest his death.