Israel’s Diplomatic-Security cabinet on Sunday decided not to return the bodies of Hamas fighters killed while carrying out attacks, the prime minister’s office said in a statement. The cabinet discussed ways to put pressure on Hamas to return the remains of two Israeli soldiers and another two Israeli citizens held by the Palestinian group in Gaza.
"The cabinet members announced a new policy in which the bodies of Hamas fighters will not be returned to their families, but they will be buried in graveyards by the Israeli authorities," the statement read. "The decision came as a way of pressure to retrieve the bodies of the Israeli soldiers," the statement added.
The Israeli authorities have been holding many bodies belonging to Palestinians killed for allegedly carrying out stabbing, ramming and shooting attacks against Israelis since October 2015.