Bodies of Palestinians returned by Israel show signs of torture, execution and being run over by tanks, Middle East Eye has learned.
Israel handed over the unidentified remains of around 45 individuals to Gaza on Tuesday as part of its prisoner exchange agreement with Hamas.
A source at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, which received the bodies via the International Committee of the Red Cross, told MEE that some of the deceased were recently killed. In contrast, others arrived in a decomposed state or as partial remains.
Several bodies bore signs of severe abuse, including strangulation marks, broken bones and mutilation.
Some were found with their hands and feet bound and their eyes blindfolded. Others were missing limbs.
The source added that some of the bodies are believed to belong to individuals killed on 7 October 2023, after being run over by Israeli tanks.
An additional 45 bodies were returned on Wednesday and are yet to be examined, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
The handover of bodies comes under the terms of the ceasefire agreement reached on Friday to end the war on Gaza and exchange prisoners and remains.
On Monday, Hamas released 20 living Israeli captives in exchange for around 2,000 Palestinian prisoners.
The Palestinian movement has since released seven out of a total of 28 deceased Israeli captives, with the rest expected to be handed over once located and recovered.
In return, Israel has so far released 90 Palestinian bodies it had withheld before, during and after the war. A total of around 400 Palestinian bodies are expected to be returned as part of the exchange.
‘Cemeteries of numbers’
Israel has long maintained a policy of withholding the bodies of Palestinians and other Arabs, dating back to 1948. Dozens are buried in what are known as “cemeteries of numbers”, marked only by numerical identifiers.
Others who were killed by Israeli forces or died in Israeli custody remain held in morgues.
The exact number of Palestinian bodies withheld by Israel remains unknown.
According to the National Campaign for the Retrieval of Palestinian and Arab War Victims’ Corpses and the Disclosure of the Fate of the Missing, Israel is currently holding the remains of at least 735 known individuals, including 10 women and 67 children, among them a 13-year-old Palestinian killed by Israeli forces in 1968.
In addition, a spokesperson for the Palestinian health ministry earlier this month said Israeli forces have exhumed and taken at least 2,450 Palestinian bodies from graves during the war on Gaza.
Media reports also indicate that a further 1,500 bodies have been held at the Sde Teiman military detention camp since October 2023, also marked only by numbers.
Several human rights groups have repeatedly condemned Israel’s long-standing policy of withholding Palestinian bodies, calling for their immediate release and return to families.
Under Israeli law, the retention of Palestinian bodies is permitted and has been implemented across the occupied Palestinian territory.
Although this practice was previously considered illegal, a 2018 amendment to the Israeli Counterterrorism Law – later upheld by the Israeli Supreme Court – authorised the state to withhold the bodies of Palestinians deemed to have committed acts of violence.
However, international humanitarian law explicitly prohibits the withholding of bodies. It states that the dead must be treated with dignity, “honourably buried” and “if possible according to the rites of the religion to which they belonged”.
Article 130 of the Fourth Geneva Convention further stipulates that the graves of the deceased must be “respected, properly maintained, and marked in such a way that they can always be recognised.”
Source: MEE
