Gaza Herald – Israel is reportedly holding the remains of around 1,700 Palestinians, keeping their bodies as potential bargaining leverage in future prisoner exchanges, according to a report by Haaretz. The disclosure has renewed outrage over Israel’s long-standing practice of withholding the bodies of Palestinians from their families.
According to the report, Shin Bet chief David Zini and Israeli military officials support continuing to withhold the remains. Legal sources cited by Haaretz have questioned the legal basis for retaining the bodies of Palestinians who were not linked to resistance operations, particularly in the absence of an explicit policy approved by Israel’s Security Cabinet.
The practice adds to years of Palestinian families being denied the right to recover and bury their loved ones. In October 2025, the Palestinian National Campaign for the Retrieval of Martyrs’ Bodies reported that around 1,500 Palestinian bodies were being withheld by Israel, including remains reportedly held at the Sde Teiman military facility.
For Palestinian families, the suffering does not end when a loved one is killed. Israel’s continued withholding of remains prevents families from holding funerals, performing burial rites and mourning their relatives with dignity. Instead, the bodies of Palestinians remain in Israeli custody, leaving families trapped in uncertainty and grief.
The revelations come as Israel continues its military violations across Gaza despite the ceasefire announced in October 2025. Palestinian authorities say Israeli forces have continued to carry out deadly attacks across the besieged Strip, undermining the very agreement intended to halt the attacks.
According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, Israeli violations of the ceasefire have killed at least 1,258 Palestinians and wounded another 4,139. The continued bloodshed highlights the fragile reality facing Palestinians in Gaza, where the ceasefire has failed to bring an end to attacks, displacement and the wider humanitarian crisis.
For Palestinians, the return of their loved ones is not a negotiating tool. Every family has the right to recover the remains of its dead, to mourn them and to bury them with dignity. Holding Palestinian bodies as potential bargaining chips is another painful chapter in a broader system of dispossession and denial that Palestinian families have endured for decades.
