Israel's 'Grotesque' Detention of Palestinian Bodies Is Intended to Silence and 'Traumatise Families'
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Beneath the soil of anonymous plots known only by numbers, behind locked morgue doors in sub-zero temperatures, the walls of detention centres, and in secret cemeteries across Israel, bodies lie in limbo - unreturned, unnamed, and unseen.
Some have been held incommunicado for decades, slowly lost to history. Many have joined them in the past eighteen months - fresh casualties in an unceasing war, a chilling reminder to Palestinians of the Israeli state's attempt to control not only life, but death itself in the occupied West Bank and Gaza.
Gaza's destruction since 7 October 2023 has been extensively documented. For nearly two years, a livestream of images and videos of bombardment, mass starvation, evidence of torture, incidences of sexual violence, mass incarceration, and even the discovery of mass graves has sent shockwaves around the world.
Largely invisible is the Israeli army's protracted war on the dead, now accelerating rapidly.
"The numbers are far higher now," said Charlotte Kates, co-founder of the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network. "[Before October 7], bodies being held by the Israeli authorities were mainly from the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. Now, there is also a growing number from Gaza."
The practice of withholding bodies during or after armed conflict is not unique to Israel and Russia, but they are the only two known states with explicit laws authorising it as a state policy. This practice contravenes international humanitarian law, which mandates the respectful return of remains to families, and is not sanctioned by most other countries.
Collateral Genocide: Inside Israel's Official 'Legalisation' of Mass Civilian Killings
Israel's key defence is that it is not intending to destroy Gazans, but to destroy Hamas - so whatever happens is therefore not intentional
Nafeez Ahmed
Israel's policies on the issue date back to Britain's imperial policies rolled out during the Palestinian Mandate. As early as 1930, British security forces buried the bodies of militants in graves far from their homes after their execution.
These informal practices were soon codified under Article 133 (iii) of the 1945 Emergency Regulations, granting military commanders sweeping authority to dictate the burial of executed individuals, including time, place, and who may attend.
This was subsequently amended in 1948, with provisions introduced to make "lawful for the Military Commander to order that the dead body of any person shall be buried in such a place as the Military Commander may direct," and, "may, by such order, direct by whom and at what hour the said body shall be buried".
This emergency law still remains in place.
After the British departed, the morbid counterinsurgency tool was incorporated by the army that same year, following the mass expulsion of the Palestinians and the close of the first Arab-Israeli war. But they also refined and expanded the measure, deploying it against Palestinian militants and civilians and Israel's enemies across the Middle East.
'Investigation into Israeli Soldiers' Sexual Assault of Palestinian Detainee is the Tip of the Iceberg'
CCTV footage has emerged allegedly showing Israel Defence Forces (IDF) soldiers sexually abusing a Palestinian detainee. Human rights groups say the abuse has been 'going on for decades'
Mel Frykberg
Described by Israelis as "cemeteries for enemy combatants" and by Palestinians as the "cemeteries of numbers," the graves are notorious for their shared characteristic of numbered placards meant to mark each corpse.
The policy went into high gear with the expansion of the occupation in 1967, going through various phases and becoming more widespread durin...
For digital and print editions, packed with exclusive investigations, analysis, features, and columns….
SUBSCRIBE
Beneath the soil of anonymous plots known only by numbers, behind locked morgue doors in sub-zero temperatures, the walls of detention centres, and in secret cemeteries across Israel, bodies lie in limbo - unreturned, unnamed, and unseen.
Some have been held incommunicado for decades, slowly lost to history. Many have joined them in the past eighteen months - fresh casualties in an unceasing war, a chilling reminder to Palestinians of the Israeli state's attempt to control not only life, but death itself in the occupied West Bank and Gaza.
Gaza's destruction since 7 October 2023 has been extensively documented. For nearly two years, a livestream of images and videos of bombardment, mass starvation, evidence of torture, incidences of sexual violence, mass incarceration, and even the discovery of mass graves has sent shockwaves around the world.
Largely invisible is the Israeli army's protracted war on the dead, now accelerating rapidly.
"The numbers are far higher now," said Charlotte Kates, co-founder of the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network. "[Before October 7], bodies being held by the Israeli authorities were mainly from the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. Now, there is also a growing number from Gaza."
The practice of withholding bodies during or after armed conflict is not unique to Israel and Russia, but they are the only two known states with explicit laws authorising it as a state policy. This practice contravenes international humanitarian law, which mandates the respectful return of remains to families, and is not sanctioned by most other countries.
Collateral Genocide: Inside Israel's Official 'Legalisation' of Mass Civilian Killings
Israel's key defence is that it is not intending to destroy Gazans, but to destroy Hamas - so whatever happens is therefore not intentional
Nafeez Ahmed
Israel's policies on the issue date back to Britain's imperial policies rolled out during the Palestinian Mandate. As early as 1930, British security forces buried the bodies of militants in graves far from their homes after their execution.
These informal practices were soon codified under Article 133 (iii) of the 1945 Emergency Regulations, granting military commanders sweeping authority to dictate the burial of executed individuals, including time, place, and who may attend.
This was subsequently amended in 1948, with provisions introduced to make "lawful for the Military Commander to order that the dead body of any person shall be buried in such a place as the Military Commander may direct," and, "may, by such order, direct by whom and at what hour the said body shall be buried".
This emergency law still remains in place.
After the British departed, the morbid counterinsurgency tool was incorporated by the army that same year, following the mass expulsion of the Palestinians and the close of the first Arab-Israeli war. But they also refined and expanded the measure, deploying it against Palestinian militants and civilians and Israel's enemies across the Middle East.
'Investigation into Israeli Soldiers' Sexual Assault of Palestinian Detainee is the Tip of the Iceberg'
CCTV footage has emerged allegedly showing Israel Defence Forces (IDF) soldiers sexually abusing a Palestinian detainee. Human rights groups say the abuse has been 'going on for decades'
Mel Frykberg
Described by Israelis as "cemeteries for enemy combatants" and by Palestinians as the "cemeteries of numbers," the graves are notorious for their shared characteristic of numbered placards meant to mark each corpse.
The policy went into high gear with the expansion of the occupation in 1967, going through various phases and becoming more widespread durin...
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