Description

Photos: Published by The Times of Israel (TOI)

File: People surround a container transporting bodies of Palestinians that were taken and later released by Israel, ahead of a mass funeral at a cemetery in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on August 5, 2024. (Bashar TALEB / AFP)

Men open a container transporting bodies of Palestinians that were taken and later released by Israel, ahead of a mass funeral at a cemetery in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on August 5, 2024. (Bashar TALEB / AFP)
___

Israel said to return 88 bodies to Gaza, Hamas health officials refuse to bury them

Gazan ministry sends truck carrying bodies back to border crossing, demands explanation of deaths; Israel does not comment on such cases

By Reuters and ToI Staff
Sep 25, 2024, 5:24 pm

Israel on Wednesday reportedly returned the bodies of 88 Palestinians killed in its military offensive in the Gaza Strip, which the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry refused to bury unless Israel discloses details about who they are and where they were killed.

The bodies were brought into Gaza in a container loaded on a truck through an Israeli-controlled crossing, but, according to Palestinian officials, there was no information provided about the names or ages of the victims or the locations where they died.

Health officials at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis refused to receive them and bury them, urging the International Committee of the Red Cross to seek details from Israel.


Israel on Wednesday reportedly returned the bodies of 88 Palestinians killed in its military offensive in the Gaza Strip, which the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry refused to bury unless Israel discloses details about who they are and where they were killed.

The bodies were brought into Gaza in a container loaded on a truck through an Israeli-controlled crossing, but, according to Palestinian officials, there was no information provided about the names or ages of the victims or the locations where they died.

Health officials at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis refused to receive them and bury them, urging the International Committee of the Red Cross to seek details from Israel.

“The health ministry halted the procedures to receive the container (carrying the bodies) until the completion of the full data and information about those bodies so their relatives can identify them,” the Gazan ministry said in a statement.

The head of the Hamas-run Gaza government media office said health ministry officials told the driver of the truck to bring the bodies back to the Israeli crossing from which he had arrived. The truck then left the hospital.

“They must act according to the international humanitarian law and in a way that preserves the dignity of the martyrs and their families,” Ismail Al-Thawabta told Reuters.

“They must act according to the international humanitarian law and in a way that preserves the dignity of the martyrs and their families,” Ismail Al-Thawabta told Reuters.

Under international humanitarian law, the bodies of those who have died during an armed conflict must be handled with dignity. The law requires that they be searched for, collected, and evacuated, which helps ensure that people do not go missing, the ICRC statement added.

The Civil Emergency Service tasked with finding people missing under rubble, on roads, and in ruined buildings in Gaza says it has been notified of around 10,000 people missing during the nearly year-long Israeli assault on Gaza.

The military does not provide an explanation in such cases when bodies are returned to Gaza. However, the military has announced when it has taken bodies from the Strip to try and identify if dead hostages are among them.

The war began on October 7 when Hamas-led terrorists rampaged through southern communities, slaughtering some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages to Gaza.

Israel launched its military operation, which has stretched for over 11 months, aiming to eliminate Hamas and bring back those kidnapped.

The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 41,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters. Israel says it has killed some 17,000 combatants in battle and another 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on October 7.

Israel has said it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas including homes, hospitals, schools, and mosques.

Israel’s toll in the ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza and in military operations along the border with the Strip stands at 348.

In recent days the conflict has spread to another major theater, with Israel launching the biggest airstrikes on Lebanon in nearly two decades, targeting the Hezbollah terror group, which has been firing rockets and drones at Israel since October 8 in solidarity with Gazans as Israel fights the Hamas terror group.