Israel to return body of Palestinian child held for over 9 months

JERUSALEM — Israel has decided to hand over the body of a 15-year-old Palestinian boy more than nine months after Israeli forces killed him and withheld his remains, a Palestinian group said Wednesday.The National Campaign for the Retrieval of Palestinian Martyrs’ Bodies said Jadallah Jihad Jumaa Jadallah from the Al-Fara’a refugee camp in Tubas was killed by Israeli army fire during a raid on the camp on Nov. 16, 2025.His body has remained in Israeli custody since then.The campaign said the decision to hand over the body follows a legal petition filed by lawyer Mohammad Abu Sneineh, representing the National Campaign to Retrieve the Bodies of Martyrs and the Jerusalem Center for Legal Aid and Human Rights, before the Israeli Supreme Court.The petition was filed in March 2026, after which the court repeatedly granted the Israeli prosecution extensions to submit its response. On the final deadline set for Wednesday, the prosecution submitted its response and informed the campaign of its intention to hand over the martyr’s body in the coming days, without specifying a final date.The campaign said the continued detention of the child’s body deprived his family of its right to bid him farewell and bury him, noting that the decision came after several months of legal proceedings seeking the recovery of his remains.In figures released Wednesday ahead of the annual National Day for the Retrieval of Palestinian Martyrs’ Bodies, the group said Israel is holding the remains of around 1,700 Palestinians, including 799 whose identities are known.Among the identified bodies are those of 81 children under 18, 99 Palestinians who died in Israeli prisons and 10 women, it said.The campaign said another 256 bodies are held in so-called “cemeteries of numbers,” where graves are marked with numbers rather than names and Israel retains information on the identities of those buried there.Israel’s Supreme Court ruled in 2019 that authorities could withhold Palestinian bodies for use as bargaining chips, a policy that was later expanded to cover Palestinians accused by Israel of carrying out attacks.