Under both Israeli law and international humanitarian law, Israel must return the bodies of dead Palestinians to their families. However, Israel continues to evade its obligation and to mistreat the families, under the protection of the court. After years of inconsistent policy, dating back to 1967, Israel ceased to return the bodies of Palestinians to their families in late 1994, with rare exc...

On February 3, 1990, ‘IZ, a Palestinian resident of Jordan set out from South Lebanon towards Israel. He then disappeared. Having failed to trace him, in November 1992, his mother filed a habeas corpus petition via HaMoked to compel that state to disclose his whereabouts, and if he was dead, reveal where he was buried. The State Attorney’s Office responded that ‘IZ was not held by Israel and ha...

In September 1984, the military killed BS, a Palestinian from Ramallah, during his attempt to penetrate Israel from Jordan. His body was kept by the military. Ten years later, when the family heard rumors that their son was still alive, HaMoked applied to the military on their behalf to ascertain his fate. The military responded that BS had been killed in 1984 together with two other men, and t...