Key facts
- Israeli authorities returned the body of 17-year-old Salim Sami Salim Fuqaha' to his family.
- Fuqaha' was killed by Israeli forces on March 17, 2026, and his body was withheld.
- The body of 15-year-old Jadallah Jihad Jumaa Jadallah, killed in November 2025, was also returned.
- Israel is reportedly holding the remains of 800 Palestinians.
- The withheld bodies include children, women, and prisoners.
Israeli occupation authorities returned the body of 17-year-old Salim Sami Salim Fuqaha' to his family in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, after withholding it since he was killed by Israeli forces on March 17, 2026. The Palestinian General Authority of Civil Affairs received the remains at the Ein Siniya military roadblock north of Ramallah.
Fuqaha' was killed on the outskirts of his hometown of Sinjil, northeast of Ramallah, with another Palestinian teenager injured in the incident. Israeli forces subsequently withheld Fuqaha's body. The Civil Affairs Authority stated it continues efforts to secure the return of all Palestinian bodies held by Israeli authorities.
This incident follows the return of the body of 15-year-old Jadallah Jihad Jumaa Jadallah, whom Israeli forces shot dead in November 2025. His remains were received by Palestinian authorities in the Far’a refugee camp months after his killing.
According to the National Campaign for the Retrieval of Palestinian Bodies, Israel was holding the remains of 800 Palestinians in numbered cemeteries and morgue facilities. This total includes 256 bodies in so-called numbered graves and 544 bodies withheld since the policy resumed in 2015. Among those documented are 99 prisoners, 83 children under 18, and 10 women. The campaign also reported that, as of February 4, 2026, Israeli authorities had returned the remains of 930 Palestinians from Gaza, some of which were reportedly removed from cemeteries and Al-Shifa Hospital.