Occupied Jerusalem, Aug. 13 (SANA) Two Palestinian organizations said Thursday that Israeli occupation authorities are holding the bodies of about 1,700 Palestinians, describing the practice as part of a systematic policy of collective punishment amid the ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people.
The Palestinian Prisoners’ Club and the National Campaign for the Retrieval of Martyrs’ Bodies said in a joint statement carried by WAFA that the figure, reported by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, included bodies held in so-called “cemeteries of numbers” and morgues.
The groups said Israeli occupation authorities had previously disclosed varying figures, including around 1,500 bodies, among them those of women, children and prisoners.
Despite exchanges that included the return of some bodies, most recently in October 2025, the latest figure showed that the number being withheld had continued to rise, they said.
The organizations linked the increase to what they described as the Israeli occupation’s ongoing genocide, widespread killings and enforced disappearances, particularly in the Gaza Strip, where thousands of Palestinians remain missing.
They said withholding bodies was not an isolated practice but a systematic policy used to punish families, exert pressure and deny Palestinians the right to bid farewell to their relatives and bury them with dignity.
The groups said the practice dates back more than five decades but has reached unprecedented levels, describing it as a grave violation of human dignity and international humanitarian and human rights law.
They called for urgent international action to determine the fate of missing Palestinians, identify victims, secure the return of bodies to their families and hold those responsible accountable.
The National Campaign for the Retrieval of Martyrs’ Bodies said it had documented 800 bodies held in Israeli occupation morgues and “cemeteries of numbers,” including 256 in the cemeteries and 544 withheld since the policy was resumed in 2015.
The documented cases include the bodies of 99 prisoners, 83 children and 10 Palestinian women.
In the Gaza Strip, the campaign said the bodies of 930 Palestinians had been returned as of Feb. 4, some through exchanges. It said some of the bodies had been taken by Israeli occupation forces from cemeteries and Al-Shifa Hospital. It added that 66 boxes containing human remains had also been handed over.
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