GAZA, (Palestine Foundation Information Center), Rights groups and families in Gaza are sounding the alarm over what they describe as grave legal and humanitarian violations by Israel, including the unlawful detention of Palestinians who have completed their sentences and the continued withholding of bodies of those who died under torture in Israeli custody.
The Asra Media Office (AMO) warned on Monday that Israel is still holding 32 detainees from Gaza whose legal sentences have expired, with some cases dating back months and even years. The Office said the practice constitutes arbitrary detention, violates international law, and amounts to a war crime under the Fourth Geneva Convention.
According to AMO, the detainees remain imprisoned without being brought before any judicial body, while their families are denied visits or even basic information about their health. The group described the policy as a form of systematic collective punishment imposed on Gaza’s population.
Article 132 of the Fourth Geneva Convention stipulates that detainees must be released immediately upon the completion of their sentences, an obligation Israel is accused of ignoring.
The AMO urged international human rights organizations to document these cases and pressure Israel for the detainees’ immediate release. It also called on Palestinian officials to mobilize diplomatic and legal efforts at global forums to expose what it described as an escalating crime. Israel, it said, bears full responsibility for the safety and lives of those held without legal justification.
In a separate case highlighting Israel’s withholding of prisoners’ bodies, the family of Dr. Adnan al-Bursh, a renowned orthopedic surgeon from Gaza, has launched an international campaign to reclaim his remains. Al-Bursh died under torture in Israeli detention more than a year and a half ago, according to his relatives.
His wife, Yasmin al-Bursh, said the family has begun a worldwide campaign aimed at retrieving not only his body but also the bodies of other Palestinians held in Israel’s “cemeteries of numbers.”
She called for mounting global pressure on Israel and the opening of an international investigation into the circumstances of the doctor’s death.
Al-Bursh, who headed the orthopedic department at Gaza’s Al-Shifa Medical Complex before it was devastated by the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) during the genocide, was detained by IOF soldiers after they stormed Al-Awda Hospital in the Tel al-Zaatar area during the ground invasion of northern Gaza.
According to his nephew, physician Iyass al-Bursh, the campaign aims to retrieve the doctor’s body for appropriate burial. The family had expected his body to be among the remains transferred back to Gaza under a recent Qatari- and Egyptian-mediated prisoner exchange backed by the US, but they received no confirmation.
The family began social-media mobilization and plans to expand the campaign to include public demonstrations and field actions. Iyass, who was also tortured in the “Sde Teiman” detention site before being released in the exchange deal on February 15, 2025, said he continues to suffer the effects of the abuse.
He added that dozens of Palestinian detainees have died in Israeli custody, while those who remain face “catastrophic” detention conditions. According to the Israeli news outlet Walla, at least 110 Palestinians have died in Israeli prisons since Itamar Ben-Gvir became Israel’s minister of national security.
Government Media Office director in Gaza, Dr. Munir al-Bursh, has previously stated that Israel committed “compound crimes” against detainees, including torture, execution at close range, and severe mutilation. He said more than 300 bodies received by Gaza’s health authorities showed signs of extreme abuse, including dog attacks, crushing by military vehicles, and burn marks.
Autopsy findings revealed evidence of organ theft, including the removal of kidneys, livers, and corneas, which he described as indicative of a systematic and programmed operation. He called for an urgent international investigation into these violations.
