Gaza, MINA — A senior Gaza health official said Thursday that the bodies of Palestinian detainees returned by Israel under the recent ceasefire and prisoner exchange deal showed clear signs of torture, burns, and execution, Anadolu Agency reported.
“The bodies of Gaza’s prisoners were returned to us bound like animals, blindfolded, and bearing horrific signs of torture and burns, evidence of atrocities committed in secrecy,” said Dr. Munir al-Bursh, Director General of Gaza’s Health Ministry, on the social platform X.
Al-Bursh said the visible injuries indicated “crimes that cannot be concealed,” adding that many of the bodies had been held in Israeli morgues for months and appeared to have been executed after being restrained. He called for an immediate international investigation, describing the acts as “full-fledged war crimes.”
The Palestinian Prisoners’ Media Office also raised concerns over possible organ theft from some of the bodies. In a statement, it said that “preliminary data indicates the possibility of human organs being stolen from some bodies, in a crime that transcends humanity and reveals a systematic criminal practice by the occupation.”
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Citing medical and forensic reports, the office said that many of the retrieved bodies were “handcuffed, blindfolded, and showed signs of severe torture, burns, and being crushed by Israeli armored vehicles.” The statement added that some detainees were “executed in cold blood after being arrested,” in violation of international humanitarian law and the Fourth Geneva Convention.
The Gaza Health Ministry confirmed that 30 bodies were delivered through the International Committee of the Red Cross to Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis on Thursday, while at least 120 bodies have been returned since Tuesday as part of the ceasefire deal. The Palestinian National Campaign for the Retrieval of Martyrs’ Bodies said that Israel still holds 735 bodies of Palestinian prisoners, including 67 children.
According to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, nearly 1,500 bodies of Palestinians from Gaza remain in Israeli custody at the Sde Teiman military base in the Negev Desert.
Since October 2023, Israeli attacks on Gaza have killed nearly 68,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children leaving the enclave in ruins.[]
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