Israel holding bodies of 1,700 Palestinians as bargaining chips, says report

Israel is holding the dead bodies of about 1,700 Palestinians as potential bargaining chips despite there being no Israeli hostages currently held by Palestinian armed groups, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz has reported.

According to the report, Shin Bet chief David Zini has urged Israel to retain the remains for possible use in future hostage negotiations, a position supported by the Israeli military.

Haaretz reported that most of the remains belong to Palestinian combatants involved in the Hamas-led 7 October attack in 2023 but also include Palestinian civilians and 13 Israeli citizens.

Legal sources cited by Haaretz argue that Israel lacks the authority to hold the remains of Palestinian non-combatants, as the decision is not backed by Security Cabinet policy.

In July, the Israeli daily reported that the authorities admitted in response to a High Court of Justice petition to holding the body of a Palestinian detainee, a photographer and father of four, who was arrested in December 2023 and died a day later while being held in a detention centre at the Erez Crossing.

The body has reportedly not undergone an autopsy.

His family discovered what happened to him in July 2025, after filing a petition through the rights group Gisha.

Even after notifying the family, the government did not disclose information relating to the date, location or circumstances of his death, as well as the legal basis for retaining his body.

It claimed that he had been a “military Hamas operative”, which the family refutes.

In July, Gisha reported that Israel "continues to hold the bodies of more than 100 Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza who died in its custody", at least 68 of them Gaza residents.

The state told the court it was conducting a review into the decision to continue holding the body and those of other Palestinians, but that it had been paused as a result of the war with Iran.

Israel has long maintained a policy of seizing the bodies of Palestinians killed by its forces. Several human rights groups have repeatedly condemned the policy, calling for them to be returned to their families.

International humanitarian law requires treating the dead with dignity.

The International Committee of the Red Cross says the rules are intended, among other things, to prevent people from becoming missing and to ensure families can learn of the fate of their relatives.

The Fourth Geneva Convention also requires the bodies of deceased internees to be honourably buried and their graves maintained and marked so they can be identified.

It states that the dead must be treated with dignity, "honourably buried" and "if possible according to the rites of the religion to which they belonged".

Under Israeli law, the retention of Palestinian bodies is permitted and has been implemented across the occupied Palestinian territory.

Reuters reported in November 2025 that Palestinian armed groups had returned all Israeli captives' remains as part of an exchange involving Palestinian remains.