Prisoners’ Hunger Strike – 4 August 2021 Daily Press Briefing – (Excerpts)

4 AUGUST 2021

The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today’s noon briefing by Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesman for the Secretary-General.

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Questions and Answers

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Question:  Thank you, Steph.  A number of Palestinian detainees went into hunger strike, had reached now 18.  Some of them have been on hunger strike for 22 days.  Some of them just joined the hunger strike recently, and yet there is no word from the United Nations about this tragedy.

Spokesman:  Let me check.  I personally had not seen those reports, but I will check for you.

Question:  And I have another related question.  Also, the number of Palestinian corpse, or dead bodies, that had been killed by Israel have reached 81 now.  Some of them have been there for years.

Spokesman:  Sorry.  Abdelhamid, can you start again?  The number of?

Question:  Palestinian bodies killed by Israel, they are kept in freezers.  The corpse of those killed have been kept for many years, Some of them for months, some of them recently.  But the number had reached 81 now, had been kept by Israel all this time.  These bodies should be let go to their families to give them a final burial, and yet the UN had been ignoring this issue and had not been even mentioned in the final… in the monthly reports to the Security Council.

Spokesman:  I don’t think we’ve ignored the issue.  I think it’s always important that families, wherever they are, on whichever side of the conflict, be able to get the remains of their loved ones.

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For information media. Not an official record.