Background
Walid Daqqa was serving a life sentence for his involvement in the kidnapping and murder of Israeli soldier Moshe Tamam. Daqqa died of cancer on April 7, 2024, while in Israel Prison Service custody, and state authorities continued to hold his body. His family previously sought its release for burial, but the Supreme Court rejected that petition on September 30, 2024.
Daqqa’s relatives filed this petition on June 26, 2025, challenging only the conditions in which the body was being held. They sought to require the state to preserve it by freezing or refrigeration rather than burial in the ground, anticipating its eventual return to the family. While repeatedly requesting extensions to respond, the state undertook not to alter the existing storage conditions.
In March 2026, the petitioners filed a separate proceeding directly seeking return of the body, with a hearing scheduled for September 7, 2026. In that proceeding, the state likewise committed to preserve the status quo until both petitions were resolved.
The Court’s Holding
The Court struck the storage-conditions petition, subject to the state maintaining the body’s existing conditions until 30 days after judgment in the separate body-return proceeding. It reasoned that the present petition concerned an aspect secondary to the principal issue being litigated in that proceeding and therefore should not remain pending independently.
The Court preserved all parties’ arguments. If necessary, they may raise those arguments before the panel hearing the body-return petition or in a new proceeding, subject to applicable law. The Court expressly took no position on their merits.
Because the petition was struck, the Court did not decide the request by the human-rights organization B’Tsalmo to join as a respondent. It also made no order for costs, given the parties’ continuing litigation.
Key Takeaways
- The petition was struck because it addressed a secondary aspect of the pending proceeding over return of Daqqa’s body.
- The state must preserve the body’s current storage conditions until 30 days after judgment in the body-return proceeding.
- The Court did not decide the merits of the parties’ positions concerning storage, release, or burial of the body.
Why It Matters
The decision coordinates two closely related proceedings without resolving the underlying dispute. It ensures that the body’s present condition will not be changed while the Supreme Court considers the family’s direct request for its return.
By preserving the parties’ arguments and permitting them to be raised in the related case or a later proceeding, the Court left both the substantive storage dispute and any future remedies open.