Many of the 90 bodies of Palestinians returned to Gaza by Israeli authorities under the ceasefire deal showed signs of torture and execution, including blindfolds, cuffed hands and bullet wounds in the head, according to doctors’ accounts.
As part of the US-brokered truce, Hamas has handed over the bodies of some of the hostages who died during the course of the war, and Israel has transferred the bodies of two groups of 45 Palestinians killed during the fighting. The exchange was carried out through the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
Doctors at Nasser hospital in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, which received the Palestinian bodies from the ICRC, said on Wednesday there was substantial evidence of beatings and summary executions, and that none of the bodies were identifiable.
“Almost all of them had been blindfolded, and had been bound up and they had gunshots between the eyes. Almost all of them had been executed,” said Dr Ahmed al-Farra, the head of Nasser hospital’s paediatric department.
“There were also scars and discoloured patches of skin showing they had been beaten before being killed. There were also signs that their bodies had been abused after they were killed.”
Farra added that the bodies had been handed over by the Israeli authorities with no identification, and the hospitals in Gaza, heavily bombed over the course of two years of war, had no means of doing DNA analysis.
“They know the identity of these bodies but they want the families to suffer even more about these victims,” the doctor said.
Nasser hospital authorities said the bodies, which had been kept in refrigerators in Israel, were returned with numbered labels but no names. Doctors said they were asking relatives of missing Palestinian men to help... READ MORE https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/oct/15/palestinian-bodies-returned-by-israel-show-signs-of-torture-and-execution-say-doctors