Israel hands over bodies of Palestinians killed in Gaza

Israel yesterday handed over the bodies of dozens of Palestinians killed by Israeli occupation forces in Gaza in recent weeks, Reuters has reported. The handover was confirmed by health officials in the Palestinian enclave.

The bodies, which had been held in Israel, were handed over through the Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom crossing. They will be buried in mass graves in the city of Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip, said the officials, but they did not say how many bodies this would involve.

There was no comment from Israel about the matter. It is not known why Israel removed the bodies from Gaza, although it is known that around 450 Palestinian bodies from the West Bank and Gaza are held by Israel in so-called “cemeteries of numbers”, secret burial sites without proper markers. The Israeli Supreme Court decided in 2019 to allow the army to retain Palestinian bodies for future use as “bargaining chips” with the Palestinians.

Allegations have been made that Israel removes organs from Palestinian corpses. Doctors in Gaza say that bodies returned earlier suggest that such organ removal has been carried out. When the allegations were made in December, the Israeli authorities did not comment on them.

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