Jerusalem | July 31: Israel’s Supreme Court has upheld the state’s decision to continue withholding the body of a 14-year-old Palestinian boy killed by Israeli forces, sparking outrage from human rights groups who call the move a violation of international law and basic human dignity.
The ruling concerns Wadia Shadi Sa’d Elyan, a resident of East Jerusalem, who was shot dead on February 5, 2024, near the Israeli settlement of Ma’ale Adumim in the occupied West Bank. While Israeli police claimed Elyan attempted to stab an officer, video evidence presented in court reportedly shows him being shot from behind while fleeing, and then fatally shot again as he lay motionless.
Elyan’s body has been withheld for more than 18 months. The state argued it must retain the remains as “potential leverage” in future prisoner exchange negotiations with Hamas. The Court sided with the state, citing classified security evidence and affirming that the military commander has the authority to both withhold and temporarily bury the body.
The rights group Adalah, representing Elyan’s family, condemned the decision:
“By endorsing the use of a deceased child’s body as a bargaining chip in political negotiations, the Court entrenches a grave violation of international law and basic humanity,” it said in an August 4 statement.
Lawyers stressed that withholding remains violates the dignity of both the deceased and their relatives — a right enshrined in international humanitarian law. They also dismissed Israel’s reliance on British Mandate-era Emergency Regulations of 1945 as legally untenable.
Rights monitors say the case highlights a systematic policy. According to Defense for Children International – Palestine, Israel is currently withholding the bodies of more than 45 Palestinian children, while the Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Center reports that as of May, authorities are holding a total of 668 Palestinian remains.
Critics argue the Supreme Court ruling legitimizes a practice that dehumanizes Palestinians and inflicts prolonged suffering on grieving families. For Elyan’s parents, the decision means continued denial of a proper burial for their son, deepening their trauma.
The judgment underscores Israel’s increasingly controversial policy of using Palestinian bodies as political collateral — a practice rights groups insist violates the most basic standards of justice and humanity.
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