Israel returns bodies of 89 Palestinians to Gaza

These bodies, previously held by Israel, were delivered through the Kerem Shalom crossing in the southern Gaza Strip by the International Committee of the Red Cross, Palestinian security sources told Xinhua.

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06 Aug 2024 07:32am
Men remove bodies from a container after they were taken and later released by Israel, ahead of a mass funeral at a cemetery in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on August 5, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas militant group. (Photo by Bashar TALEB / AFP)
Men remove bodies from a container after they were taken and later released by Israel, ahead of a mass funeral at a cemetery in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on August 5, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas militant group. (Photo by Bashar TALEB / AFP)

GAZA, Palestine - Israel had returned the bodies of 89 Palestinians killed by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip, the Hamas-run Gaza government media office said on Monday.

These bodies, previously held by Israel, were delivered through the Kerem Shalom crossing in the southern Gaza Strip by the International Committee of the Red Cross, Palestinian security sources requesting anonymity told Xinhua wires service.

Xinhua quoted the sources saying that the bodies were placed in plastic bags with serial numbers but without any information about their origins, the locations from which they were taken, or the places where they were killed.

According to the media office, the Israeli side had kidnapped more than 2,000 bodies of the slain victims from dozens of cemeteries in the Gaza Strip over the course of 304 days of the genocide.

The statement called for the establishment of an independent international investigation into the abduction of the corpses and what they said was "the theft of their vital organs."

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on the return of the bodies. In the past, the IDF has said it has removed dozens of bodies from Gaza for DNA tests in Israel to see if there are Israeli hostages.

The returned bodies were buried on Monday in a mass grave at the Turkish cemetery in Khan Younis, the southern Gaza Strip.

Israel launched a large-scale attacks on Gaza Strip to retaliate against a Hamas offensive through the southern Israeli border on Oct 7 last year.