The Legal Centre for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, Adalah, filed a petition to the Israeli Supreme Court, demanding the release of the bodies of six Palestinian citizens of Israel that the authorities have withheld for a prolonged period.
“Israel continues to withhold hundreds of bodies of deceased Palestinians as bargaining chips for negotiations,” a statement by the group said, calling the policy that prevents their burial “inhumane”.
The group said the court accepted the state’s argument that retaining the bodies could provide it with leverage in negotiations for the return of the Israeli captives then being held in Gaza and rejected the previous petitions by the group.
In the petition filed today, Adalah argued 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.”
