DaysofPal- On Tuesday, Palestinian authorities in Gaza buried 41 unidentified bodies of martyrs returned by Israeli forces through the International Committee of the Red Cross.
The Civil Defense teams, along with units from the Ministry of Health, the Department of Awqaf and Religious Affairs, and the Gaza Police, participated in the burial and funeral procession in Deir al-Balah, a city in the central Gaza Strip.
Mahmoud Basal, a spokesperson for the Civil Defense in Gaza, confirmed that the 41 bodies were unidentified and could not be named due to decomposition and the erasure of facial features caused by Israeli torture.
This burial marks the second batch of bodies interred by Palestinian authorities, part of a total number of bodies returned by the Israelis following a ceasefire agreement.
The bodies were part of 195 returned to Gaza under the agreement, with no names or identities provided by the Israeli occupation.
According to the latest data from the Ministry of Health in Gaza, identities have been confirmed for 72 bodies, while efforts to identify the rest continue.
Identification efforts are challenging due to the limited capabilities of Palestinian authorities, who rely on calling families of missing persons to identify bodies based on clothing, physical characteristics, or injuries.
Previously, 54 unidentified bodies were buried, leaving 28 bodies still awaiting identification.
Basal called for the introduction of DNA testing equipment and specialists to help identify these bodies, or the opportunity to conduct DNA analysis abroad.
Earlier, Ismail al-Thawabteh, former head of the Government Media Office in Gaza, noted that official examinations of the returned bodies showed signs of hanging and ropes around necks, as well as close-range gunshot wounds, indicating deliberate field executions.
Reports have consistently highlighted that many bodies bore evidence of severe torture, including bound hands and feet, blindfolds, and deep wounds suggesting brutal treatment before execution.
The release of these bodies is part of a broader prisoner exchange deal that saw the Israeli release of 1968 Palestinian prisoners, including 250 serving life sentences and 1718 from Gaza arrested after the Israeli genocidal war.
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