Defense Minister Benny Gantz has reportedly instructed the military to track down the bodies of Palestinian terrorists held by Israel whose burial places are unknown, in a move aimed at increasing the Jewish state’s leverage in talks with Gaza’s Hamas rulers on potential prisoner swap.
According to the Ynet news site, there are believed to be a few dozen bodies whose whereabouts are unknown.
Gantz has also decided to hold the bodies of terrorists regardless of their organizational affiliation, the report says, similar to plans put forward by his predecessor in the defense minister post, Naftali Bennett.
Gantz could bring the proposal for cabinet approval in the coming weeks, but likely not in the upcoming meeting on Israel’s possible annexation of West Bank lands, the report says.
A spokeswoman for Gantz declines to comment on the report.
Hamas is believed to be holding two Israeli citizens, Avera Mengistu and Hisham Al-Sayed, as well as the bodies of soldiers Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul, who were killed in Gaza during the 2014 war between Israel and the terror group.
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