Monitoring Group: Israel Withholding Remains of Nearly 800 Palestinians Since 1967

A Palestinian monitoring group says Israel is still withholding the remains of 799 Palestinians killed since 1967, including women and children.

The figure was released on Wednesday in a joint statement by Palestinian prisoners’ advocacy groups and the Palestinian National Campaign for the Retrieval of Martyrs’ Bodies and the Disclosure of the Fate of the Missing.

The groups issued the statement to mark Palestine’s National Day for the Recovery of the Bodies of Palestinian and Arab Martyrs.

“The retention of the bodies of martyrs and missing persons is among the most notable issues related to Israeli violations, as it prevents Palestinian families from discovering the fate of their loved ones, from bidding them farewell, and from laying them to rest,” the statement read.

It stressed that the figure of 799 is not final, citing difficulties in documenting the number of missing Palestinians, particularly in the besieged Gaza Strip, where thousands remain unaccounted for and access to areas with high casualty rates remains severely restricted.

The most recent case cited is that of Fathi Khazem, a resistance commander from Jenin in the occupied northern West Bank, who was fatally shot by Israeli forces at his home last week. His body has yet to be returned to his family.

It also called for greater efforts to recover the remains of Palestinian victims and establish the fate of those who remain missing.

Last October, activists said Israel was holding the remains of around 1,500 Palestinians killed in Gaza at the Sde Teiman military base in the Negev desert, near the border with the besieged coastal territory.

Israeli strikes have killed 1,296 Palestinians and injured 4,296 others in Gaza since a US-brokered so-called ceasefire took effect on October 10, 2025.

Since October 2023, Israeli military forces have killed more than 73,000 Palestinians and injured over 174,000 others in their genocidal war on the Gaza Strip.