‘He’s not dead!’ Palestinian mourns her son slain by Israeli forces

Dunya Ghanem stood over her son’s body in disbelief.

“Come on, Jihad, my love. Get up. Let’s go home,” she coaxed him in the morgue on Monday morning, caressing her slain son’s face.

She put her hand on his heart. “Jihad’s alive. His heart is beating,” she insisted to the dozens of family and friends who had come to console her.

“Just be patient for God’s sake,” she told them. “Jihad is just asleep.”

She grabbed hold of him as the medics tried to move his body into the morgue refrigerators, pushing their hands away and crying out: “He’s not dead! He’ll be cold in there!”

When her protests failed and it was time to bury 29-year-old Jihad Saleh, Dunya carried her son on her shoulders, leading the pallbearers, who were all men.

Dunya struggled to speak about her son as she cried. “I was dreaming of seeing him get married,” she choked out.

Jihad and 17-year-old Mohammad Qasim Abu Zar were killed by the Israeli army during a raid on the village of Zawata in the northern West Bank on Sunday night.

More than 20 Israeli military vehicles entered Zawata, west of Nablus city, precipitating confrontations during which the army fired live ammunition and tear gas at youth.

At least three people were injured, including one who remains in critical condition.