Gaza body crisis deepens as Israel holds Palestinian remains
Palestinians marked the National Day for Recovery of the Bodies of Palestinian and Arab Martyrs on Thursday as Israel holds about 1,700 Palestinian bodies, most of them from Gaza, according to Israeli estimates cited by Haaretz.
The annual observance on Aug. 27 highlights a decades-long campaign by Palestinian families to recover the remains of relatives held in Israeli military morgues or buried in military cemeteries known as “graves of numbers.”
Palestinian institutions have documented the identities of 799 Palestinians whose bodies are being held by Israel, including 81 children and 10 women. The documented cases include 256 bodies buried in numbered graves and 99 belonging to Palestinian prisoners.
The Palestinian Cabinet designated Aug. 27 as a national day in 2008 to support efforts to identify missing Palestinians, recover detained bodies and return them to their families.
Gaza war widens the crisis
The issue has expanded sharply since Israel began its war on Gaza in October 2023, with hundreds of bodies transferred from the enclave while thousands of Palestinians remain missing.
The National Campaign to Recover the Bodies said Israel had returned the bodies of 930 Palestinians to Gaza by Feb. 4, 2026, along with 66 boxes containing human remains. It said some remains had been taken from cemeteries and areas near the al-Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza City.
Identification efforts have been hampered by shortages of DNA-testing equipment and supplies. Palestinian teams have instead relied on traditional identification methods and information from families of missing people.
The campaign and Palestinian prisoners’ institutions said the number of Palestinian bodies held by Israel could rise as more information emerges and previously inaccessible areas are searched.
The crisis extends beyond bodies held by Israel. Thousands of Palestinians remain buried beneath destroyed buildings across Gaza.
Zaher al-Wahidi, director of the Health Information Unit at Gaza’s Health Ministry, said Aug. 20 that about 7,400 bodies remained trapped under rubble because recovery teams could not reach many locations.
Israel's policy draws legal scrutiny
Palestinians refer to Israeli military cemeteries containing unidentified remains as “graves of numbers.” The practice expanded after the 1967 war, with graves marked by numbers linked to files rather than the names of those buried there.
Israel has increasingly retained Palestinian bodies since 2015. Its security Cabinet approved the use of some remains in future negotiations in 2017, while the Supreme Court authorized the military in 2019 to hold Palestinian bodies under emergency regulations, including for negotiations over Israelis or their remains.
International humanitarian law requires respect for the dead and their graves and calls for efforts to facilitate the return of remains to families. Article 34 of Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions specifically addresses the remains of people who die during armed conflict or occupation.
Since a US-brokered ceasefire took effect on Oct. 10, 2025, Israeli attacks have killed 1,303 Palestinians and wounded 4,336, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
The ministry says more than 73,400 Palestinians have been killed and over 174,400 wounded since the war began in October 2023.
Source:AA
