Israel Won’t Return Arab Israeli’s Body, Despite Doubting ‘Whether He Was a Terrorist’

First published in Haaretz, February 11 2026

IDF soldiers shot and killed 20-year-old Mu’aman Abu-Riash, a resident of central Israel, in the West Bank, saying he was throwing stones at a road alongside other young men. The military admits it doesn’t know whether he was involved in terrorist activity

Israel has refused for two months to return the body of an Arab Israeli man from the central city of Ramla, who was shot to death by the IDF in December in the West Bank, even though it admits it does not know if the victim was involved in terrorism.

The state also rejected the family’s request for an autopsy to determine the circumstances of his death. During a High Court of Justice hearing last week, Justice Khaled Kabub criticized the Military Advocate General’s handling of the case, saying that the decision to withhold the body “is like saying he’s guilty until proven innocent.”

In response to the family’s request, the state said last month: “A decision was recently made not to open a criminal investigation into the circumstances of the deceased’s death, and therefore there is no basis for an autopsy for investigative purposes.”

On December 8, Mu’aman Abu-Riash, 20, was shot near the town of Azzun, east of Qalqilyah. The IDF said he was shot because he was throwing stones at a road alongside other young men. One of them, 21-year-old Baraa Bilal Issa Qablan, was also shot and killed, and his body is being held by Israel. Another young man involved, Mohammed Said Taha Hussein, was arrested and later released.

Last month, Abu Riash’s father petitioned the High Court of Justice, through Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, demanding that his son’s body be autopsied and released for burial.

The petition claimed that the autopsy was necessary to open a criminal case against those responsible for the shooting, adding that Abu Riash was shot to death “while sitting and eating with his friends, with no danger posed by him.”

It further stated that despite the time that had passed, and despite repeated appeals by the father, “the family had not received a substantive response regarding the demand for an autopsy and the release of the body for burial according to the precepts of their religion and faith.”

Nidal Abu Riash, the father, told Haaretz that his son “went out with friends to hike, to enjoy themselves together. [The state] claimed in court that there was a stone-throwing incident at the place where they were, but [my son] doesn’t get involved in such things.”

In the state’s response to the petition on January 18, it was stated that it must be examined promptly, “whether the continued holding of the deceased’s body is required for the purpose of returning prisoners and missing persons, and as a prerequisite, it is necessary to determine if it is the body of a terrorist.”

According to the response, “a final decision on this matter has not yet been made, and efforts are underway to reach one as soon as possible. Since this involves the body of an Israeli citizen, and in light of the security cabinet’s policies regarding delays in returning the bodies of Israeli citizen terrorists, the final decision will depend on the assessment of whether he was indeed a terrorist.”

Last week, High Court justices Khaled Kabub, Noam Sohlberg and Ruth Ronnen deliberated on the petition and allotted the state ten days to update them on its decisions. During the hearing, attorney Matanya Rozin from the Military Advocate General’s Office admitted that the state still does not know if Abu Riash was involved in terrorism, but claimed there was suspicion against him.

“The army does not collect bodies [of individuals killed in] traffic accidents,” Rozin said. “There needs to be evidence that justifies this clarification. I can’t definitively state whether he was a terrorist or not.”

Justice Kabub responded that this stance was tantamount to claiming the young man was guilty until proven innocent, and added: “I very much hope he was killed during an [military] operational activity.”

Kabub then told the state’s representative that it should reconsider the autopsy and the return of the body. “The body has been held for two months by the respondents in order to determine if he threw a stone [at the soldiers] and if he was indeed a terrorist. There’s no criminal investigation. What justifies continuing to hold his body on the claim of stone-throwing?”

Source: Harretz