SAFA- The remains of about 1,700 Palestinians are being withheld by the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) as leverage in future negotiations, according to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

The newspaper reported that Israeli forces continue to withhold the remains of hundreds of Palestinians despite there currently being no Israeli hostages in Gaza.

Citing two unnamed sources familiar with recent discussions within Israel’s security establishment, Haaretz said the number of Palestinian bodies currently being held is estimated at around 1,700.

According to the report, Shin Bet chief David Zini supports maintaining the policy of withholding the bodies in anticipation of a possible future scenario involving Israeli hostages or missing persons. 

Haaretz said the majority of the bodies belong to Palestinians from the Gaza Strip who were killed in the Israeli genocide continued since October, 2023.

In October 2025, the Palestinian National Campaign for the Recovery of Martyrs’ Bodies and the Disclosure of the Fate of Missing Persons, a non-governmental organization, said the Israeli military was holding approximately 1,500 bodies of Palestinians from Gaza at the Sde Teiman military facility.

The reported figure of 1,700 bodies represents a significant increase from the number previously cited by Palestinian organizations, although the exact number remains difficult to independently verify.

The issue of withheld bodies has long been a source of controversy, with Palestinian organizations accusing Israeli occupation of using the remains of Palestinians as leverage in negotiations and calling for their return to their families for burial.

The report comes amid the continuing humanitarian consequences of the Israeli war in Gaza. Palestinian authorities say Israel's genocidal war has killed more than 73,000 Palestinians and injured more than 174,000 others, the majority of them women and children. Approximately 90% of Gaza's infrastructure was either destroyed or severely damaged during the Israeli genocide, according to official Palestinian data.