Adalah Petitions Supreme Court Demanding the Immediate Release of Bodies of Palestinian Citizens of Israel to Their Families
Today, 26 April 2026, Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel filed a petition o the Israeli Supreme Court, demanding that it order the state to release the bodies of six Palestinian citizens of Israel that have been withheld by Israeli authorities for a prolonged period. The petition was filed by Adalah Attorney Salam Irsheid on behalf of the families of the deceased.
Previous petitions filed on behalf of the families, seeking the return of their loved ones’ bodies for proper burial in accordance with their religious traditions, were rejected by the Court, which accepted the state’s argument that retaining the bodies could provide it with leverage in negotiations for the return of the Israeli hostages then being held in Gaza. In the petition filed today, Adalah argues that the conclusion of the Israel-Hamas agreement has entirely eliminated the basis for that reasoning, and that the Court’s own logic now mandates the immediate release of the bodies: “The alleged purpose underlying the decision to withhold the bodies of the deceased no longer exists… The Cabinet decisions regarding the continued withholding of the bodies of Israeli citizens, including those of the petitioners’ relatives, are no longer relevant and do not apply under the circumstances of our case. Accordingly, the continued withholding of the bodies of the deceased is unlawful, lacks due authority, and fails the proportionality test,” the petition states.
The petition emphasizes that the right to a dignified burial is an inherent component of the constitutional right to human dignity. The continued withholding of the bodies constitutes a severe and ongoing violation of the right to dignity of the deceased and their families, a violation that does not withstand constitutional scrutiny, given its sweeping nature and lack of legitimate purpose. Adalah therefore demanded that the Supreme Court order the state to immediately release the bodies of the petitioners’ loved ones to their families for burial according to religious norms.
Adalah has long fought against Israel’s policy of withholding Palestinian bodies, an inhumane and degrading practice that may rise to the level of torture. In addition to today’s petition, several further petitions demanding the release of the bodies Palestinian citizens of Israel, and residents of occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem remain pending before the Supreme Court. They include three petitions filed in recent weeks demanding the release of the bodies of Walid Daqqa, Wadea Elyan, who was only 14 years old when he was killed, and Ahmad Erekat.
Background: Since April 2024, Israel has applied its longstanding policy of withholding the bodies of Palestinians as bargaining chips to Palestinian citizens of Israel, for the first time, signalling a significant and alarming escalation. This policy change was triggered by the death in custody of Walid Daqqa, a Palestinian citizen of Israel whose body has been withheld since April 2024 (Adalah petition, April 2024). In June 2024, the Security Cabinet ratified Defense Minister Yoav Gallant’s decision to withhold Daqqa’s body for purposes of future negotiations with Hamas, a decision that was upheld by the Supreme Court in September 2024 (Adalah press release, September 2024). In January 2025, the Court went further, upholding the sweeping Cabinet policy of withholding the bodies of Palestinian citizens of Israel who allegedly carried out attacks, namely the six individuals whose bodies are the subject of today’s petition, without requiring any individual assessment of whether withholding a specific body would serve any negotiating purpose (Adalah press release, January 2025).
CLICK HERE to read the petition
HCJ 55988-04-26 Abu Ghanima et al. v. Minister of Defense et al.
