Gaza, MINA – The Red Cross on Wednesday delivered the bodies of 30 Palestinians to Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza, as part of the ongoing ceasefire deal. The victims had been detained by Israeli forces from different parts of Gaza during the war, Anadolu Agency reported.
According to the Prisoners’ Information Office affiliated with Hamas, medical and field evidence accompanying the handover indicates that the victims were subjected to summary executions following torture, restraint, and being run over by military vehicles.
Earlier on the same day, 30 bodies released by Israel via the Red Cross were brought to Nasser Hospital, bringing the total number of Palestinian bodies handed over since October 14 to 225.
“Traces of torture, handcuffing, burns, and crushing by military vehicles were found on their bodies,” the office said in a statement. “Keeping the bodies in refrigerators and burying them in the so-called cemeteries of numbers reflects a deliberate policy to humiliate Palestinians, both alive and dead, and constitutes a blatant violation of international humanitarian law.”
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The office explained that the bodies were returned without identification, forcing families to identify their relatives through remaining physical features or clothing, as forensic testing is impossible due to the ongoing Israeli blockade and the destruction of Gaza’s laboratories.
Before the October 10 ceasefire, Israel was holding 735 Palestinian bodies in “cemeteries of numbers,” according to the Palestinian National Campaign to Retrieve Martyrs’ Bodies and Discover the Fate of the Missing. The campaign also cited a Haaretz report published on July 16, 2024, revealing that the Israeli army was holding about 1,500 bodies of Palestinians from Gaza at the Sde Teiman military base in southern Israel.
In a related incident, the office condemned far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir for publishing a video showing Palestinian prisoners handcuffed and lying on the ground, calling it “open incitement that exposes the criminal mindset governing the occupation’s prisons.”
Earlier in the day, Ben-Gvir appeared in a Telegram video standing before a row of Palestinian detainees lying face down with their hands tied behind their backs, saying, “This is how we treat them, and all that’s left is to execute them.”
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Ben-Gvir has frequently appeared in videos humiliating Palestinian prisoners and threatening them with death or execution, including Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti.
“These acts constitute conclusive evidence of a systematic policy of killing targeting Palestinian prisoners,” the office said, calling for an independent international investigation committee and for Israeli leaders to be held accountable for crimes committed against both living prisoners and those whose bodies remain detained.
The Gaza Health Ministry also confirmed that many of the bodies handed over by Israel showed signs of severe abuse, including beatings, bound hands, blindfolds, facial disfigurement, and the absence of identifying information.
The handover is part of the first phase of the truce, while subsequent phases include the transfer of Gaza’s administration to a nonpolitical committee and the rebuilding of the enclave after more than two years of relentless Israeli assaults.[]
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Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)
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