a death was once—as in most places around the world—a relatively simple administrative task. A body was brought to a hospital, where medical staff issued the necessary paperwork with the civil authorities. This allowed families to update civil records, settle inheritance matters, access bank accounts, apply for assistance, or secure legal guardianship of children. But amid heavy Israeli bombardment, detention of untold Palestinians, and repeated mass displacement, this all changed. Since October 2023, the systems that identify bodies, record deaths, and settle accounts have been pushed toward collapse. “It is an unfolding legal crisis,” said Ahmed Masoud, head of the legal department at the Palestinian Center for the Missing and Forcibly Disappeared. “Thousands of cases now sit in a legal gray zone.” Many of these families suspect that their relatives may have been killed but cannot prove it in a way the law recognizes.…