PRESS RELEASE
🔴 Palestinian Organizations Condemn Israel’s Withholding of Approximately 1,70 Palestinian Martyrs' Bodies*
Ramallah, occupied Palestine — August 13, 2026 — The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS) and the National Campaign for the Recovery of Martyrs’ Bodies condemned the reported acknowledgment by Israeli occupation authorities that they are withholding the bodies of approximately 1,700 Palestinian martyrs, describing the practice as a systematic form of collective punishment that continues beyond death.
The organizations said the reported figure highlights the scale of a policy that has deprived thousands of Palestinian families of the right to recover, mourn, and bury their loved ones with dignity. They stressed that the practice affects women, children, prisoners, and Palestinians from different parts of the occupied territory, while the fate of thousands of missing Palestinians from Gaza remains unknown.
According to the National Campaign, 800 Palestinian martyrs are documented as being held in the occupation's cemeteries and refrigerators, including 256 in so-called “cemeteries of numbers” and 544 whose bodies have been withheld since 2015. The campaign also documented 99 martyrs from the prisoners’ movement, 83 children, and 10 women among the bodies being held.
The PPS and the National Campaign called for the immediate return of all withheld bodies, the identification and tracing of missing Palestinians, and urgent international action to end the practice. They emphasized that families have a fundamental right to know the fate of their loved ones and to bury them with dignity and in accordance with their religious and cultural traditions.
👇🏼 Full Report in English Below
https://www.ppsmo.ps/home/studies/18449?culture=ar-SA
www.ppsmo.ps
Israeli Occupation Reveals It Is Withholding the Bodies of 1,700 Palestinian Martyrs
<p>Israeli Occupation Reveals It Is Withholding the Bodies of 1,700 Palestinian Martyrs</p><p>Crime of Genocide Extends Beyond Death</p><p>Palestinian Prisoner’s Society</p><p>National Campaign for the Recovery of Martyrs’ Bodies</p><p>August 13, 2026</p><p>Ramallah…
2August 13, 2026 1.5K 2
