Dozens of Palestinians' bodies arrive in Gaza following release by Israel

By Hani Al Shair

GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) - The bodies of dozens of Palestinians killed by the Israeli army who were detained during its ground operation, arrived Tuesday in the Gaza Strip after being released by Tel Aviv, according to an Anadolu correspondent.

The Ministry of Health in Gaza received the bodies through the Kerem Shalom border crossing in the southern Gaza Strip, an Anadolu correspondent reported.

The Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs, however, is in charge of the burials in mass graves, said the correspondent.

''The UN had informed us in advance of the arrival of a number of martyrs to the Gaza Strip, estimated to be around 80 bodies,'' Marwan Al-Hams, the director of Mohammed Yousef El-Najar Hospital in Rafah city, told Anadolu.

"The bodies arrived inside a container, some intact, while others were in pieces, and some others had decomposed,'' he added.

Al-Hams noted that 'the bodies will “be transferred to the cemetery for burying” and the crime will be documented “through the Ministries of Health and Justice."

Authorities in Gaza had dug mass graves for the burial, sources reported to Anadolu.

In response to a cross-border attack by Hamas on Oct. 7, Israel launched air and ground attacks on the coastal territory and has since killed at least 20,915 people, most being women and children.

The onslaught has left Gaza in ruins, with 60% of the enclave's infrastructure damaged or destroyed and nearly 2 million residents displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicines.

Tel Aviv has vowed to destroy Hamas and ensure the release of all hostages taken during the October attack. Some of the hostages were returned after a temporary truce in November in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio