DaysofPal- A recent admission by Israeli authorities regarding the retention of the body of a Palestinian detainee from the Gaza Strip, who died while in custody, has renewed scrutiny on Israel’s policies of corpse withholding and enforced disappearances. Human rights organizations said that Israel uses the bodies of deceased Palestinians as political bargaining chips, deliberately depriving families of knowing their loved ones’ fates or burying them with dignity.
A report by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz revealed that the Israeli military is holding the body of a detainee who died at a detention facility near the Beit Hanoun (Erez) crossing.
Ramy Abdu, chairman of the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor, said the admission does not reveal a new practice but rather constitutes a delayed acknowledgment of a policy that rights organizations have documented since the early months of the war.
Abdu said the organization has documented the withholding of the bodies of Palestinians killed since October 7, 2023, as well as the exhumation and confiscation of bodies from cemeteries. He added that hundreds of Palestinian families still do not know the fate of their relatives and remain uncertain whether they were killed under the rubble, died in Israeli detention, or had their bodies continue to be withheld.
He highlighted that Israel’s retention of Palestinian bodies extends beyond humanitarian concerns, describing it as a tool used in negotiations over prisoners and missing persons. Such a practice, he said, constitutes a clear violation of international humanitarian law and the Geneva Conventions, which require parties to an armed conflict to respect the dead and return their remains to their families without delay or political conditions.
The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor said the use of bodies as bargaining chips amounts to a form of hostage-taking. It added that the practice not only deprives Palestinians of their lives but also denies their families the right to know their fate, recover their remains, and bury them according to religious and humanitarian traditions.
Human rights lawyer Hisham Al-Sharbati said the withholding of bodies forms part of a broader policy of enforced disappearance, particularly affecting detainees from the Gaza Strip. He said Israeli authorities continue to withhold information about the fate of large numbers of detainees and deny them access to lawyers and the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Al-Sharbati added that the fate of many Gaza detainees remains unknown, amid reports that some have died in custody as a result of torture, medical neglect, or starvation inside detention facilities.
Human rights advocates have also raised concerns that the continued withholding of bodies may be intended to conceal evidence surrounding the causes of death, particularly after signs of torture and ill-treatment were reportedly documented on several bodies returned to Palestinian authorities in recent months.
The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor called for the International Committee of the Red Cross and independent human rights organizations to be granted access to detention facilities, detainee records, and the bodies being withheld. It also urged the establishment of an independent international mechanism to investigate the fate of missing persons and detainees who died in Israeli custody.
The organization concluded that withholding bodies and concealing the fate of detainees constitute serious violations of international law that may amount to crimes warranting international criminal accountability.
Shortlink for this post: https://daysofpalestine.ps/?p=76143
