Israel refusing to release body of Bedouin ex-IDF soldier who died while being held without charge — report

Israeli authorities are refusing to release the body of a former Bedouin soldier in the IDF who died while being held in prison without charge, Haaretz reports.

Hassan Kashallah’s family was notified last month that the 26-year-old died while being held in administrative detention, a draconian tool that Israel uses against Palestinians and Arab citizens — but no longer Jews — which allows authorities to hold a suspect indefinitely without charge.

In addition to being prevent from burying Kashallah, his family has not been given any information regarding the cause of his death, Haaretz.

Kashallah was arrested in 2025 on suspicion of membership in the Islamic State and of planning a terror attack, but prosecutors declined to indict him ostensibly due to lack of evidence. Nonetheless, the Shin Bet requested that he be placed in administrative detention. Defense Minister Israel Katz complied and he was held ever since.

Kashallah denied the charges against him and his family points out that he and his siblings served in the IDF, including in Gaza during the recent war.

Kashallah’s attorney says Israeli authorities placed her client in a prison wing with Palestinian security detainees despite knowing that he would be in danger due to his past service in the IDF.

During a remand hearing last year, Kashallah told the judge that he feared his life was in danger in prison. “I’m afraid to die here,” Haaretz quotes him as having said before bursting into tears.

Responding to the Haaretz report, the Israel Prisons Service says the circumstances of Kashallah’s death are confidential, while the Shin Bet declines to comment.