One of the critical issues endangering the fragile Gaza ceasefire is the negotiation over the exchange of deceased individuals. The agreement involves Hamas returning the bodies of 28 hostages to Israel in exchange for the remains of 360 alleged Gazan fighters. Israel has accused Hamas of delaying the process to maintain leverage, while Hamas attributes the delays to the extensive damage caused by Israeli military actions. Medical professionals in Gaza have reported receiving Palestinian bodies from Israel with numbered tags instead of names, showing signs of torture and some with bound hands.
The practice of withholding the deceased as a bargaining tactic persists on both sides of the Israeli-Hamas conflict, serving as a grim strategy not limited to the current Gaza situation.
Human rights organizations allege that Israel has stored the bodies of numerous Palestinian militants for an extended period, often interring them in what Palestinians refer to as “cemeteries of numbers,” which they view as a form of collective punishment.
‘Cemeteries of numbers’
According to human rights groups, Israel has accumulated the bodies of hundreds of suspected Palestinian combatants as potential bargaining tools over the years, burying them in undisclosed locations labeled as “cemeteries of numbers.”
Hussein Shejaeya, leading a campaign for the return of these bodies by the Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Centre, stated that there are records indicating 735 missing bodies in the cemetery of numbers and refrigerators in Israeli morgues.
These burial sites are identified solely by numerical markers, a practice for which Palestinians coined the term “cemeteries of numbers.” Shejaeya revealed that Israel possessed the bodies of 405 Palestinians before the Hamas attacks on October 7, 2023, and has since added at least 330 more bodies.
Notwithstanding, Gazans are not included in the post-October 7 count. Reports from Israeli newspapers suggest that Israel is holding the remains of up to 1,500 Gazans in various morgues across the country.
Shejaeya explained that once a body is allowed to be buried by the Israeli military, retrieving it becomes exceedingly challenging due to additional legal procedures.
Necessary strategy, says Israel
Israel has consistently defended its practice of retaining the bodies of adversaries as a consequence of its hostile environment. Avi Kalo, a former leader of an Israeli military intelligence unit responsible for locating missing personnel, emphasized the importance of treating the deceased of Israel’s enemies as potential assets.
Kalo stressed the significance of this approach