Defense Minister and Alternate Prime Minister Benny Gantz will demand that the government not return the bodies of terrorists except in exceptional circumstances, Israel Hayom reported.
The new policy will be approved by the Political-Security Cabinet in the coming weeks.
In internal discussions held at the Defense Ministry, Gantz said that the issue of Israeli prisoners and missing persons should be given top priority.
Gantz stated his intention to change the current policy regarding the return of the bodies of terrorists, in a reply submitted by the state to the Supreme Court in the case of terrorist Ahmad Erekat, which reads: "The Minister is still working to raise the issue of changing the policy currently enshrined in the decision of the Political-Security Cabinet on 1.1.17 and to re-examine the issue at the Political-Security Cabinet."
The Defense Ministry also stated in a reply to the Supreme Court that on July 16, "the issue was discussed during a dialogue between the Defense Minister and the Attorney General."
Ahmad Erekat committed a ramming attack against Border Police officers at a checkpoint near Maaleh Adumim last month, injuring a female soldier. He was shot dead during the attack and his family has petitioned for the release of his body for burial.
Erekat is a relative of senior Palestinian Authority official Saeb Erekat. Since the terrorist was not a member of the Hamas terrorist organization, current Israeli policy does not prohibit the return of his body.
In January 2017 the Israeli government decided not to return the bodies of terrorists belonging to the Hamas organization, but to bury them in a designated location in Israel. The decision was meant to pressure Hamas to return Israelis being held by the terrorist organization in Gaza.
Hamas is holding Israeli civilians Abera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed as well as the bodies of IDF soldiers Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul.