Israel is still holding the bodies of 67 martyred Palestinian children – leaving them in numbered graves

The Palestinian National Campaign to Retrieve the Bodies of Martyrs and Disclose the Fate of the Missing said on Friday 10 October that Israel continues to hold the bodies of hundreds of Palestinians, in flagrant violation of international humanitarian law. It confirmed that among the bodies held are children, women, and detainees.

Israel holding the bodies of Palestinian martyrs, including children

The campaign explained in a press statement, seen by the Canary, that Israel is holding the bodies of 735 martyrs, including 67 children and 10 women. Moreover, it noted that 256 of these bodies are located in what are known as ‘cemeteries of numbers‘. These are simple, secret graves where the occupation places numbered metal plates instead of names. Israeli authorities surround each grave with stones without headstones, and assigns each number a security file.

The statement added that since the beginning of 2025, the occupation has held the bodies of 479 Palestinians. This included 86 detainees it martyred in prisons, or shortly after their release.

In the same context, the campaign referred to a report published by the Hebrew newspaper Haaretz on 16 July. This revealed that Israel is holding about 1,500 bodies of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip inside the Sde Teiman military camp, which the campaign described as:

an unprecedented moral and humanitarian crime that represents another form of collective punishment.

Violating international law amid the ceasefire agreement

This comes at a time when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have begun returning to northern Gaza after the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces. This is as part of the first phase of the ceasefire agreement. However, Palestinians returning have been shocked by the extent of Israel’s widespread destruction of residential neighbourhoods, hospitals, schools, and infrastructure.

Since October 2023, Israel has committed unprecedented genocide, leaving, according to official Palestinian figures, more than 67,200 martyrs and 169,900 wounded. Most of these martyrs are women and children. This is in addition to severe famine and a complete collapse of humanitarian services Israel has engineered in the Strip.

Featured image via the Canary