Israeli regime returns nearly 90 Palestinian bodies abducted from Gaza

“The occupation provided us with no information about the names, or ages, or anything. This is a war crime, a crime against humanity,” Abu Suleiman said.

He said the bodies would be examined in an attempt to determine the causes of death and to identify them, before being buried in a mass grave at a cemetery near Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis.

Gaza’s Government Media Office said Israel had sent 89 bodies as “bones and decomposed bodies in an inhumane manner”.

The office added that Israeli forces also previously dug up graves in Khan Younis, Jabalia and the Tuffah neighborhood in Gaza City, and transferred the bodies to “unknown places”, an action amounting to a war crime and a crime against humanity.

Hamas said in a statement the bodies were handed over in “a state of complete decomposition, without any ability to determine their identities”.

“It highlights the sadism of the [Israeli] occupation and the level of crime committed by the Nazi occupation army, which is unprecedented in human history,” it said.

In Jerusalem, the Israeli Hostages and Missing Families Forum asked why Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would allow the handover of Palestinian bodies without a ceasefire deal with Hamas.

“Why are bodies being returned outside the framework of a comprehensive deal? Such an agreement could bring back living hostages for rehabilitation and the deceased for proper burial,” the group said in a statement.

The Government Media Office in Gaza said Israeli forces had “stolen” 2,000 bodies since October 7 from dozens of cemeteries, which they bulldozed during their ongoing military offensive.