Martyrs’ Bodies Palestinian
Occupied Palestine (Quds News Network)- On the National Day for the Return of Martyrs’ Bodies, Israel is currently holding the bodies of 552 Palestinians.
These bodies are kept in numbered cemeteries and morgues, including 256 in cemeteries of numbers and 296 in morgues since Israel resumed its body-holding policy in 2015.
Among the held bodies are those of 9 women, 32 prisoners, 55 children under the age of 18, 5 Palestinians from the areas occupied in 1948, and 6 refugees from Palestinian communities in Lebanon. Since the beginning of the war in Gaza, Israel has escalated the practice of holding bodies. Since the start of the war, 149 bodies have been held, which constitutes more than half of the bodies held since 2015. It is important to note that these figures do not include bodies from the Gaza Strip.
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The policy of holding bodies, practiced by Israel, is one of the longstanding tactics used as part of a broader strategy of collective punishment against Palestinian victims and their families. It serves as a means of control and punishment for Palestinians, particularly in response to resistance activities. This issue has seen various phases, often escalating in conjunction with increased resistance and confrontation against the Israeli occupation.
Since the occupation of Palestine in 1948, Israel has employed this policy, which persisted until 2008. It was reinstated by the Israeli Security Cabinet in 2015 during the popular uprising. The policy not only involves holding bodies but also imposing conditions on their release. In many cases, strict and unfair conditions were placed, particularly affecting victims from Jerusalem, as part of Israel’s punitive measures against both the deceased and the living.
On December 14, 2017, the Israeli Supreme Court postponed its ruling, declaring the holding of bodies illegal, to allow Israeli authorities to enact legislation authorizing the military and police to hold bodies. In September 2019, the court ruled that military commanders could temporarily hold bodies for use as bargaining chips in negotiations, imposing broad conditions allowing the authorities to order the detention of some victims’ bodies.
Despite these conditions, the vast majority of the bodies held do not meet the criteria set by the court, marking a new phase in the Israeli Supreme Court’s role in legitimizing the holding of bodies. Subsequently, the Israeli Knesset sought to enact legislation empowering the police to hold bodies, leading to amendments to the “Counter-Terrorism” law, further entrenching this practice.
Since the offensive on Gaza began, 149 bodies have been detained, representing more than half of those held since 2015, and this does not include the hundreds of bodies from Gaza whose identities remain unknown.
To date, there has been no official statement from Israel regarding the exact number of bodies held from Gaza. Israel employs a policy of identity concealment, a facet of its systematic enforced disappearance tactics, opting instead to assign numbers to the bodies.
In July 2024, Haaretz revealed that Israel holds approximately 1,500 Palestinian bodies in refrigerated containers at the Sde Teiman military base, classified by numbers rather than names. The condition of these bodies has deteriorated, with some missing limbs or lacking identifiable features.
Throughout the war, Israel returned the bodies of 428 unidentified victims in several batches, which were buried in mass graves in Khan Yunis and Rafah in southern Gaza. The sight of the bodies being returned in blue bags became one of the most harrowing images, reflecting the brutality of the occupation state and its ongoing violation of human dignity, a hallmark of the genocide that has continued for over ten months.
Israel’s policy of holding bodies contradicts all international norms and conventions that mandate the respectful treatment and return of victims’ remains. International humanitarian law contains specific rules on the treatment of war dead and their remains, such as Rule 112 on the search for and collection of the dead, Rule 113 on protecting the dead against looting and mutilation, Rule 114 on the return of the remains and personal effects of the dead, Rule 115 on the disposal of the dead, and Rule 116 on identifying the dead.
The First Geneva Convention of 1949, Article 17, underscores the importance of ensuring a proper and respectful burial, where possible according to the deceased’s religious rites, and maintaining and marking graves for future identification. Additionally, Article 120 of the Third Geneva Convention, Article 130 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, and Article 34 of the Additional Protocol highlight the obligation to facilitate the return of bodies and remains.
Source: qudsnen
