Of the many issues currently threatening to derail a Gaza ceasefire already hanging by a thread, the exchange of the dead is surely one of the grimmest.
The deal calls for the bodies of 28 hostages held by Hamas to be returned to Israel in exchange for the remains of 360 alleged Gazan combatants.
Israel accuses Hamas of dragging its heels and deliberately withholding some bodies in a bid to retain leverage, while Hamas blames delays on the massive devastation wrought by Israeli firepower.
And doctors in Gaza say some of the Palestinian bodies they’ve received from Israel have arrived with numbers, not names, and that many bear signs of torture, some with their hands bound.
The practice of withholding the dead lives on both sides of the Israeli-Hamas war, a cruel bargaining tactic not exclusive to this latest Gaza conflict.
WATCH | Withholding the dead as a bargain tactic: Bargaining with the dead buried in Israel’s cemetery of numbers | Duration 6:26 Human rights organizations say Israel has been stockpiling the bodies of hundreds of alleged Palestinian militants for years,
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