Gaza Herald – Israeli authorities are holding the remains of an estimated 1,700 Palestinians killed, denying families the right to know the fate of their loved ones, say goodbye, and bury them according to their religious traditions, Palestinian prisoner advocacy groups said Thursday.
The figures were released on Palestinian Martyrs’ Bodies Recovery Day, observed annually on August 27, highlighting a decades-long Israeli policy of withholding Palestinian bodies.
According to the advocacy groups, the identities of at least 799 of those held are documented. Among them are 256 Palestinians buried in so-called “cemeteries of numbers,” 99 Palestinian detainees who died in Israeli custody, 81 children under 18, and 10 women. The actual number is believed to be higher, particularly as thousands remain missing in Gaza.
For Palestinian families, the withholding of bodies creates what rights advocates describe as “suspended mourning,” leaving relatives trapped between grief and uncertainty, unable to perform burial rites or properly say farewell.
The groups said the practice violates international humanitarian law, which requires the dead to be treated with dignity and protects families’ rights to information and burial. They called for the immediate return of the remains, disclosure of the fate of missing Palestinians, and independent international investigations into the conditions in which the bodies are being held.
They also urged international institutions to hold Israel accountable for violations involving the treatment and withholding of Palestinian bodies, and to make the recovery of the remains part of broader efforts to secure truth, dignity, and justice for Palestinian families.
