"I don't know if he was arrested or martyred. I've contacted everyone, and no one has told me anything," she said. "Whenever a prisoner or detainee is released, I ask them: 'Did you see Fadi?'"
Qadih described the agonizing uncertainty. "I just want to know if my son is among them... If he's not found among these martyrs, it will be a great shock."
She remains hopeful she can identify him. "My son's leg is amputated; he has vitiligo... his hair is white. I will know him."
A Policy of Control: "Cemeteries of Numbers"
The number of Palestinian bodies still held by Israel remains unclear. The National Campaign for the Recovery of Martyrs' Bodies, a Palestinian NGO, reported last week that Israel holds the remains of at least 735 people, including 99 from Gaza, in morgues or "cemeteries of numbers."
Since 1967, Israel has maintained a policy of withholding the bodies of Palestinians killed by its forces. In the 1970s, it established "cemeteries of numbers"--secret burial sites where Palestinians are interred anonymously, marked only by a metal plaque bearing a number.
Researchers and human rights organizations, such as Al-Haq, argue this policy is a tool of collective punishment and a form of "control over the Palestinian body, dead or alive."
These practices, including the withholding of remains and alleged mutilation, constitute severe violations of international law. Specifically, they breach Article 17 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which mandates respect for the dead, and are classified as war crimes under the Rome Statute (Article 8), which prohibits "mutilating dead bodies" and "outrages upon personal dignity."
Steven Sahiounie is a two-time award-winning journalist.
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