Israel returned the bodies of more than 80 Palestinians killed in its military offensive in the Gaza Strip. The handover came as Israeli airstrikes killed at least 18 more people on Monday, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. Yamen Abu Suleiman, director of the Palestinian Civil Emergency Service in Khan Younis, stated that it was unclear whether the bodies had been exhumed from cemeteries during the ground offensive or if they were “detainees who had been tortured and killed.” “The occupation provided us with no information about the names, or ages, or anything. This is a war crime, a crime against humanity,” Abu Suleiman said. The bodies will be screened and examined to determine the causes of death and identify the individuals. They will be buried in a mass grave at a cemetery near Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis. The 84 bodies arrived in more than 15 bags, each containing several bodies, Abu Suleiman added. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on the return of the bodies.
In the past, Israel has stated that it returned bodies after verifying they were not Israeli hostages held by Hamas since the Oct. 7 attack on Israel. However, the Israeli Hostages Families Forum in Jerusalem questioned the handover of Palestinian bodies without a ceasefire agreement with Hamas. “Why are bodies being returned outside the framework of a comprehensive deal? Such an agreement could bring back living hostages for rehabilitation and the deceased for proper burial,” they stated.
Residents in southeast Khan Younis reported continued Israeli aerial and tank shelling overnight, including in areas where Israel had issued evacuation orders, claiming militants were launching attacks from there. Medics reported that an Israeli air strike killed eight Palestinians in a vehicle on the road near Khan Younis on Monday. The Israeli military confirmed that they had killed Abdel-Fattah Al-Zriei, whom they identified as an individual involved in the weapons manufacturing department of Hamas. The strike occurred on Sunday, they added. However, Palestinian health officials stated that Zriei, the deputy minister of the economy in the Gaza Strip, was “assassinated” in an Israeli strike on his house in Deir Al-Balah, central Gaza, which also killed his mother.
According to Israeli estimates, 1,200 people were killed in Hamas’ attack on southern Israel, and 250 were taken hostage. The Gaza Health Ministry reported that at least 39,550 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli military campaign in Gaza. They do not distinguish between fighters and civilians, while Palestinian health officials maintain that most of the fatalities are civilians. Israel, which has lost around 330 soldiers in Gaza, estimates that about a third of the Palestinian dead are fighters.
