27 August 2026

Press Release

Al-Dameer: The Withholding of the Bodies of Martyrs Is a Gross Violation of Human Dignity and an Ongoing Crime Requiring Accountability

Al-Dameer Association for Human Rights – Gaza, on the occasion of the National Day for the Recovery of the Bodies of Palestinian and Arab Martyrs, states that the Israeli occupation forces continue, and are in fact expanding, their policy of withholding the bodies of Palestinian martyrs, under political pretexts, and using the bodies as a bargaining chip and a tool of political blackmail, in a blatant violation of the rules of international humanitarian law and an affront to the human dignity of the martyrs and their families.

The information available to the Association indicates that the Israeli occupation forces continue to withhold approximately (2,277) bodies in what are known as “cemeteries of numbers” and refrigerators, including no fewer than (777) documented martyrs, among them (98) martyrs who were detainees and who died during the genocidal war on the Gaza Strip, in addition to more than (1,500) bodies that were recovered from areas near the separation fence with the Gaza Strip and transferred inside the occupied territory by the occupation forces.

Despite the return of the last Israeli remains by the Palestinian factions, the Israeli occupation continues to withhold the bodies of Palestinians, and has also worked to legitimize laws allowing the withholding of the bodies of Palestinian martyrs, through an agreement between the military and judicial levels of the occupation. This confirms that the policy of withholding bodies is a systematic policy, which the occupation uses as a bargaining chip and a tool of political blackmail, rather than dealing with it as a humanitarian, human rights, and legal issue requiring immediate action.

Al-Dameer Association confirms that the Israeli occupation has not stopped its policy of withholding and stealing the bodies of martyrs, in clear violation of the rules of international humanitarian law, and in a manner that affronts the dignity of the martyrs and the rights of their families. On 25 September 2025, the occupation forces handed over (88) bodies inside an iron container, without clarifying the names or identities of the bodies’ owners. At the time, the Ministry of Health refused to receive them due to the absence of clear data regarding the names and identities of the bodies, and because this was not in accordance with the protocols adopted by the International Committee of the Red Cross and the rules of international humanitarian law.

The container remained in the Mawasi Khan Younis area (Al-Tina) for two days, until the Ministry of Health received the bodies again and buried them as unidentified. In addition, (345) bodies were handed over in accordance with the ceasefire agreement, and only (97) bodies were identified, while the remaining bodies were buried as unidentified.

Al-Dameer Association for Human Rights considers that the continued withholding of the bodies of martyrs, and their handover and burial without disclosing the identities and information of their owners, constitutes a blatant violation of the sanctity of the dead and their human dignity, and of the right of the families of martyrs to know the fate of their children, receive their bodies, and bury them in a manner that preserves their human dignity, is consistent with religious and humanitarian values, and guarantees the right of their families to bid farewell to them and bury them with dignity.

Accordingly, Al-Dameer Association for Human Rights calls upon the international community, the United Nations and all its relevant agencies, and the International Committee of the Red Cross, to assume their legal and humanitarian responsibilities, and to exert serious pressure on the Israeli occupation forces for the immediate and unconditional release of all withheld bodies of martyrs, disclosure of the fate of all missing persons, and handover of the bodies to their families for dignified burial, and to stop using the bodies of martyrs as a political or bargaining tool, and to work to end this policy and hold those responsible for it accountable.

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