The Health Department of the Hostages and Missing Families Forum published a report Tuesday warning that the prolonged time since October 7 significantly increases the risk that remains of deceased hostages in Gaza may become unrecoverable, unidentifiable, or impossible to examine for determining the circumstances of death. The urgent warning comes as Israel prepares to observe Memorial Day, with hostage families scheduled to make a statement soon at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv.
The report authors warn of a grave danger – not merely losing information about where the deceased might be located, but the complete disappearance of the remains themselves. This would severely violate families' fundamental rights to know their loved ones' fate and bring them to a proper burial. The document outlines two critical risk dimensions:
Loss of critical information: Intelligence is becoming increasingly scarce
There is growing concern that the locations of many deceased hostages are known only to individuals who might be killed or disappear during ongoing fighting without leaving systematic documentation. As weeks turn to months, this intelligence gap widens dramatically, diminishing the possibility of obtaining direct, reliable information needed for recovery operations.
Beyond intelligence challenges, environmental conditions in Gaza – extreme heat, flooding, structural collapses, sewage infiltration, and animal activity – continue to deteriorate, damaging the integrity of remains and making future identification increasingly difficult.
Environmental conditions threaten the remains
A particularly severe threat involves the deceased hostages reportedly held in underground tunnels. According to assessments, some remains are being kept or hidden in tunnels characterized by harsh physical conditions – high humidity, poor ventilation, collapse risks, and flooding dangers. Any tunnel damage from bombing, sabotage, or ground collapse could scatter remains or bury them indiscriminately. Even if these tunnels are eventually located, damage already inflicted may critically impair the ability to recover identifiable remains.
From a forensic perspective, experts warn that further delays could permanently eliminate the possibility of conducting valid pathological examinations to determine the cause of death, identify signs of intentional harm or abuse, and establish potential criminal responsibility. The window for reliable forensic analysis is rapidly closing, potentially rendering future investigations impossible.
Determining the cause of death
The Health Department consulted with the Israeli Association of Forensic Medicine, which explained that "investigation of death causes and circumstances relies primarily on skeletal damage and changes, therefore depending on skeletal integrity." Experience from previous returns of deceased hostages demonstrates that delays significantly impair the ability to understand how and why death occurred.
The report also addresses the profound emotional harm inflicted on families facing "suspended bereavement" – an exceptional situation where loved ones are declared deceased but not brought to burial. This creates a painful limbo where grief cannot progress normally, placing immense psychological burdens on families and adversely affecting both mental and physical health.
In some documented cases, this psychological burden has exacerbated existing medical conditions and even contributed to deaths among family members. As the report states, "Families whose loved ones were killed or died in captivity have a basic right to know what happened to them. Understanding death circumstances isn't merely technical – it's an essential condition for processing loss.
"Many families seek not only their loved ones' return, but also the story behind what happened – what occurred, what might have been preventable, and the truth. Without answers to these questions, families remain trapped in a painful limbo where loss feels incomplete and grief cannot fully exist."
"Moral injury"
The report warns that failure to return the deceased will damage Israel's national ethos of responsibility toward its fallen and undermine public trust in the state's commitment to citizens and soldiers. Many families experience what the report terms "moral injury" – a profound sense of betrayal that erodes trust in state institutions and may inflict lasting social wounds.
"Returning deceased hostages for dignified burial and bringing living hostages home for rehabilitation is fundamental to healing personal, social, and national wounds," Professor Hagai Levine, head of the Health Department at the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, said. "This represents Israel's moral and national commitment to its citizens – part of the unwritten contract on which Israeli society rests. Without returning deceased hostages and providing certainty, family members become the living-dead, while the deceased remain the dead-living. This wound undermines trust upon which our entire social fabric depends."
The report authors emphasize that "time is not neutral. It works against the deceased, against their families, and against the state's ability to fulfill ethical, legal, and national obligations. As weeks and months pass, chances for return, location, identification, and burial diminish. This danger isn't theoretical – it's known, proven, and well-established based on global experience and professional expertise."
On Memorial Day, when Israel honors its fallen soldiers and terror victims, the urgency to return deceased hostages for dignified burial becomes particularly poignant. The report stresses that passing time erodes evidence, eliminates findings, and undermines chances for return. The authors call for immediate action to return all 59 hostages – the living for rehabilitation and the dead for burial – fulfilling Israel's moral, national, and human commitment to them.
